Rhodes

We flew early in the morning from Athens to Rhodes, and when we arrived, we got in a taxi and headed to the hotel. Not long in to our taxi ride, we could see out the windows, that we were approaching a huge castle! And in that castle was where we were staying. The area in the castle walls is called Old Town, and it might just be my favorite place! Seriously, I told Brad we should change our wedding to a destination wedding, so I can get married in a castle! (Don’t worry though, we’re not changing it.)

Here are just a few pictures of the castle.

The taxi driver drove over the bridge, which would have been over the moat, and then he drove through the castle walls. We then arrived at the hotel and looked around and found that the place was a ghost town. We got checked in to the hotel, which thankfully that was open, and we asked the lady what there was to do. Unfortunately, since it was off-season, there isn’t a lot to do (unless a cruise ship comes to the island that day) besides eat, drink and take in the culture. And that’s pretty much what we did the whole time we were there.

After taking our much needed nap after travelling so early in the morning, we wandered into town to find something to eat. After passing many restaurants that were closed for the season, we found one that had the typical Greek food: kebabs, gyros, souvlaki, etc.

Brad and I both got gyros to eat, and ended up scarfing them down before we headed over to the beach. We walked up and down the waters edge, and then found a bench to sit on and watch the sunset.

Here’s a picture from that.

After taking in the beauty, we decided to go get dinner at a hole in the wall restaurant. We simply stumbled across it as we were walking back towards our hotel, and decided to give it a try. We were the only people in there, and I’m pretty sure the owner was just happy to have business, so she gave us special treatment. She gave us each a huge bowl of minestrone on the house, and then each of our meals was made deliciously. I had spaghetti and Brad had meatballs, and it was a nice change from the gyros and kebabs we eat each day.

After dinner, the town had shut down even more than earlier, so we just went back to the hotel and watched Netflix on my laptop. After finishing watching a Christmas movie (yes, it was my choice and not Brad’s to watch Christmas movies already) we fell asleep.
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Our second day in Rhodes was also spent at the beach, but today we got in and swam. But before we got to the beach, we stopped and had breakfast. Well maybe we had dessert for breakfast, but either way, my nutella crepes with ice cream were fantastic! Brad doesn’t think ice cream is a breakfast food, so he went the more traditional route of an omelet. 

Since we were in Bali before Greece, it was a little tough to convince myself that the weather was warm enough for a beach day. It was only about 68 degrees, but I figured I better stop being a chicken and just get in the water. I immediately regretted that decision! The water was freezing and there was no easing your way in to it. The bottom dropped off just a few feet from shore, so there was no wading your way out, you just had to go for it.

I went for it and started swimming at the drop off, shivering the whole way. You would think that swimming and moving around should warm you up, but it didn’t. It took about 15 minutes to finally get used to it, and that’s when I started to enjoy the beauty of the Mediterranean. The water was so clear that you could see all the way to the bottom. Brad tried to dive down as far as he could, but he didn’t even come close to the bottom. We are guessing it was about 25 feet deep of crystal clear water. You could even clearly see fish swimming beneath you!

Brad and I took turns wearing the goggles and watching the fish swim around. Then, after about an hour of swimming and treading water, we decided to head back in. It was also freezing when we got out, and we quickly ran to our towels. We laid out and shivered while we tried to get dry, and finally we just decided to go back and take a hot shower.

Here’s a picture of the beach that we swam in.

When we were walking back to the hotel on our way to go shower, we noticed that Old Town was not all shut up today (as seen in the picture below). There were shops and restaurants open, so after getting ready, we went out to look in some of them. The shops had the typical tourist stuff: shirts, magnets, key chains, etc. All cool things, but with limited space, we decided we better not get anything.

Since all of the shops pretty much had the same things, we decided to be done shopping, and head back down towards the water. Three cruise ships were docked in the harbor, and about the time we got down there, they were blowing their horns in preparation for leaving. We climbed up on the castle wall and sat there and watched the cruise ships set sail right as the sun was setting.

Here are a few pictures of what we were looking at along with the sight of the cruise ships.

Once it was getting dark, we wandered back up from the harbor and went to dinner, before heading back to the hotel to watch Netflix and go to bed.

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Day three in Rhodes started out a little different. We went to have crepes for breakfast, and while we were at the café, it seemed as if every person in the town was gathered in the square right outside. We asked our waiter what was going on, and he explained that today was a holiday in Rhodes, and they would have a parade to honor the protector of the city.

The protector of the city kept everyone safe during all of the different periods that the island went through. First, there was the classical period in which the Colossus of Rhodes was built. This was a statue standing 108 feet tall that stood above the harbor entrance. It was one of the original Seven Wonders of the World. Below I put a picture of it, but I didn’t take the picture because after an earthquake the statue fell and there’s nothing left of it.

Rhodes then went through a Roman period and during this time, the Apostle Paul actually stopped on the island. Acts 21:1 says, “After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Kos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara.” I thought that was kind of cool, so I figured I should share.

Next Rhodes entered the medieval times, and during this, the island was a major crossroads for ships sailing between Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. All of these different cultures started to shape the island as it went through a Knights Period, the Ottoman Era, and an Italian Period. Finally, after being bombed in World War II, it has turned in to what it is today. The island has so much history, and it was nice to learn about it from a local whose family has lived on the island for generations.

After watching the parade, we went back to the hotel to grab my camera and explore the castle. We wandered around for hours because it is so massive, and here are some of the pictures we took.

By the time we had walked all the way around the castle walls, it was late afternoon. We were getting pretty hungry, so we went and had some pizza at a café overlooking the square. I got a cheese pizza, which to my surprise didn’t have any marinara sauce on it. It was actually just cheesy bread, but still pretty good. Brad had some pasta, and we sat there and enjoyed our food and a glass of wine, while people watching all of the tourists below.

Once we had had our fill of people watching, we headed back out to the ocean. We walked along the beach and watched as the sun started to drop below the horizon. We took in the sunset, and then walked back to the hotel to do the only thing there is to do after the cruise ships leave and the restaurants close. So that is we watched Netflix and went to bed.

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On our last day in Rhodes we flew back to Athens in the evening, but before we did that, we spent the day exploring more of the castle.

We got up and had breakfast, and then went down to the courtyard of the castle. Down here, you could see that along the edge of the castle walls were some small openings. These openings led to tunnels that went under the castle walls, so we crawled through them and came out on the other side of the wall.

Here are some pictures from down in the courtyard looking up at the huge castle.

We had a blast exploring, but soon it was time for us to go back to the hotel and pack our things. We have gotten so good at packing, since we do it so often, that it takes us no time at all. We have everything ready to go, and then we take a taxi back to the airport. We fly back to Athens and then spend the night sleeping on the cold airport floor. (We have a flight to Santorini early in the morning, so it didn’t make much sense to get a hotel for only about six hours.)

Athens

Our first day in Athens was spent doing all of the things any tourist would do. We started by walking down to Omonia Square and grabbing a pastry for breakfast. From there we kept walking towards the Acropolis hill. We saw many famous buildings up here, such as: the Parthenon, Propyaia gate, Theatre of Dionysus, and temple of Nike. Below are a few pictures.

We were in awe of all of these huge structures, but we did not know much about them, until we headed over to the new acropolis museum. Here we watched a video that outlined the history of the Parthenon (the most famous building). It started off by explaining that the Parthenon was built during the Golden Age of Athens, around 450 BC. The building was built in honor of the goddess Athina, and it was used for people to worship her there. Then over time, the building got taken over by different groups of people, and it was transformed into these things: a Byzantine church, a cathedral, a Frankish fortress, an armory, a mosque, and a few other things that I can’t remember.

In the museum, there were also models of what the Parthenon looked like in its entirety. It was a huge building with 46 columns throughout it. Then inside those columns, there was a 40-foot tall statue of Athina. That would have been amazing to see, but sadly, most of the building is gone. In the museum, however, they have done a great job of displaying pieces of the Parthenon that they have found.

After we finished at the museum, we explored the area around the Acropolis and then went down to the temple of Olympian Zeus. Below are a few pictures from there.

All of the places we explored were crowded and filled with tons of high school students (I’m guessing they were on a field trip). We thought that since we are here during the off-season, we wouldn’t run into the crowds, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. So after fighting through crowds all day, we were exhausted (also we aren’t quite adjusted from the 6 hour time change).

We went back and took a much needed nap, and after that, we got up and went out for dinner. We wandered down to the square and sat down at a table. A menu was quickly brought to us, and we ordered some typical Greek food. Brad got a kebab and I got a gyro. The food was delicious and so was the half-kilogram of wine that we got with it (for some reason they sell wine in kilograms instead of liters, I’m not sure why). Once we had finished our food, they brought us free Greek yogurt with honey for dessert. It was also delicious, although I was so stuffed from the gyro that it was a struggle to fit that in my belly! We sat there and enjoyed the street music for a bit, and then headed back to get some sleep.

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On the second day in Athens, we got up and headed to Omonia Square. We grabbed a pastry and then we were off to the HOHO (hop on hop off) bus. We boarded the bus and here is a picture of Brad having a blast on the bus!

The bus gives you headphones, so you can plug them in and learn information about the part of the city that they're going through. Some of the information was the same as what we had learned in the museum yesterday, so after riding the bus around once, and realizing we had already gone to many of the stops, we decided to change lines and ride out to the port city, Piraeus.

Piraeus is about 7 km from Athens, so it was a quick trip out there, but while we were down at the port we got to see the famous Piraeus Lion. We also observed the hustle and bustle of the everyday life at the port, and then we headed back in to Athens on a bus full of people coming in from a cruise ship. The bus took us back up to the Parthenon, and from there we walked down the hill to the Roman Agora.

Right after we got through the gates at the Roman Agora, the sky turned very dark. Then, a man came running by us and said in about ten minutes, there would be a big storm. We adhered to his warning, and started making our way back to the hotel as fast as we could. But somewhere amongst the chaos of everyone trying to take cover, the rain started to come. It was very heavy and there was a lot of wind, so to get out of it, we hid under an overhang of a building.

We had no idea how long it would rain for, but we knew we didn’t want to stand under that overhang all day, so after about 15 minutes when the rain was lighter, we took off again. We finally made it back to the hotel, where we took a nap while we were waiting out the storm. By the time the storm had cleared, it was time for dinner. We went out and got some pizza, and then came back and went to bed.

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The third day in Athens started with the typical pastry for breakfast. From there, Brad and I headed over to hike up Mount Lycabettus (the tallest point in Athens). It was a quick, steep hike, which revealed the most spectacular views of the city.

Here are some pictures from up there.

There was a little café up here, so we took in the beautiful views over a cup of coffee. It truly was an amazing site with the city buildings, the Parthenon and other ancient buildings, and the ocean all in view!

On completion of our cappuccinos, we hiked back down and then ended up getting back on the HOHO bus, that we were on yesterday. The bus has three different lines that take you to different parts of the city, and since we had already done the touristy loop and the Piraeus loop, we decided to check out the beach loop. Out here, we got to be away from the crowds and simply enjoy the afternoon walking along the waters edge.

Here are pictures from out at the beach.

We started to get hungry, so we headed to one of the nearby restaurants. Here, Brad and I shared an appetizer sampler and some sangria, while we waited for the bus to come back to pick us up. The bus only comes out to this spot twice a day, once when we were dropped off and the other time when we would be picked up, so we had to make sure we didn’t miss our ride back in to town.

We finished at the restaurant with plenty of time, and then when the bus came back, we hopped on and headed back in to Athens. We had spent all afternoon out at the beach, so as the bus was heading back in, we got to see the sunset over the ocean. It was one of the many amazing sunsets we got to enjoy while over here in Greece! We really are so lucky!

The bus dropped us back off at the Parthenon, and we walked down the hill and back to the area we had eaten at the first night. We both got gyros tonight and then for dessert we had Greek yogurt with honey. I never really have eaten much Greek yogurt before, but I’m really starting to like it!

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow, so we need to be rested up for our last day in Athens.

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Our final day in Athens started out with a pastry. (This has become quite the routine if you haven’t noticed.) Then with our pastries in hand, we walked down to the bus station, where we got on a bus that was heading out of the city. We rode the bus for a little over an hour, and then got off in a small town.

Now you may be wondering why we took a bus to the middle of nowhere. I mean there are plenty of things to do in Athens, why not just see the sights there. Well, we came out here because it is where the drop zone is located. And by drop zone, I mean the place you land after you jump out of plane. Yes, that’s right, we are skydiving today!

Brad and I went skydiving a year ago in Utah and absolutely loved it! We always talk about wanting to jump again, so I decided that there could be no better place to jump than here: overlooking the mountains of northern Greece, the city of Athens, and the ocean. Truly, it was a wonderful sight as we were free falling, but hold on, I’m getting ahead of myself!

We got out to the drop zone and got all checked in. We met our instructors that we would be paired with, and since we had already been skydiving before, we only had to briefly review the safety. Once they were confident we knew what we were doing, we put on the harness and loaded up in the plane.

We flew around for about 15 minutes, until we reached a height of 14,000 feet. The door then flew open, and people started jumping out. My instructor and I were last to jump, so we were the people seated closest to the pilot. We scooted our way towards the door, and then I dangled my legs out the door while the instructor got ready to jump. I leaned back and away we went! Free falling for a whole minute!

We fell 9000 feet and then the parachute was opened. Now at this point, the instructor gave me control, and I could pull down on the handles to make us do circles up in the sky. We floated around for a while, and then as the ground was approaching, we got ready to land. I pulled my legs up for landing, but we had slowed down enough to simply be able to land on our feet.

Brad and I both made it safely down, and here are some pictures of Brad from the skydive. (We bought pictures of me skydiving in Utah, so we got pictures of Brad doing it here, so that’s why all of the pictures are of him!)

Skydiving definitely gets your adrenaline going and we love doing it, so we’ll have to see where we decide to jump next!

After our jump, we had planned to take the bus back to Athens, but we couldn’t figure out what time it would be at the stop. We tried to call the bus company, but they wouldn’t answer, so we thought we might be stranded. Thankfully, a nice lady named Elizabeth overheard our conversation and said she was heading back and offered us a ride. We took her up on that and enjoyed chatting with her the whole way in.

She lived in northern Athens, still a ways from where we were staying, so she dropped us off at the train station near her house. The train station was right next to the Olympic stadium, so we got to admire that for a bit as we waited on a train. Finally, one came and we rode in to the stop at Omonia Square. We got off and then headed to our hotel, happy to have made it back without too much hassle.

For dinner, we went out with my friend, Chris Zimmer, who is over in Athens teaching English on the Fulbright scholarship. He brought a few friends, Kathryn and Chris, that are also teachers through the program, and the five of us enjoyed the evening discussing our lives abroad. We compared stories about our teaching experiences and simply had a great time catching up!

The time seemed to fly by since we were wrapped up in conversation, and before we knew it, it was 10:30 pm. Brad and I have to get up at 3:30 am to get to the airport and catch an early flight, so we decided it was time for us to head back and go to bed. We said our goodbyes, took the picture below, and then were on our way back to the hotel to get some sleep.

Indonesia

We flew from Cambodia to Malaysia and then from Malaysia to Indonesia, where we spent the week relaxing on the island of Bali.

Each day started with us going down and enjoying the breakfast buffet at our hotel. Breakfast is our favorite meal of the day, so each day we would go indulge in the delicacies that we have missed so much. They had an omelet station, there was bacon and sausage, fresh fruit, cereal, an assortment of breads, and items from a traditional Balinese breakfast such as: rice, potatoes, and corn on the cob. We ate it all (probably more than we needed) but we were trying to eat enough to hold us over until dinner. Then after breakfast we would head to the beach.

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On the first day, we were walking up the beach, trying to decide where we wanted to lay out, when we came across a man handing out pamphlets. He handed us one and told us to open it, and to my surprise it said I was a grand prize winner! I had no idea what was going on, but all I knew was that it said that under a little scratch off square, there was a letter that corresponded to my prize. My prize was either: A. $1000 B. a brand new GoPro C. a free 7 night stay at a resort or D. an iPhone 7. Any of those sounded great to me, so the guy explained that we could be driven over to their resort across town, listen to an hour-long spiel about becoming a member of their travel club (but we didn’t have to join to get the prize), and then receive the prize and be driven back to the beach.

Since Brad and I had nothing to do, we obviously went and did this, and after listening for an hour, we kindly declined becoming a member. But as promised, we still received our prize for just coming and listening. So now Brad and I have a free 7-night stay at one of their resorts in Bali, Thailand, India, or Germany! Since we’ve already been to 3 of those 4 places, were thinking that Germany might be our next trip!

We then went back to the beach where we daydream of our next vacation the entire time that we lay there. I know I said Germany might be next, but we loved Bali so much, that we might want to come back!

Anyways, here are some pictures of the beach.

I know that we’re trying to relax, but Brad and I both like to do activities. So after trying to read our books for a while, we got in the ocean and jumped in the waves. When we were coming back in from jumping in the waves, we found a snake hiding in the rocks near shore. We chased it around for a while, until it got away. Then, when we got out of the ocean, we went and dug a hole in the sand. I got in and Brad buried me. He then shaped the sand in to a mermaid, pictured below!

By the time I broke out from under all of the heavy sand, the sun was starting to go down. We decided to head back to shower and get ready for dinner. We got all dressed up, since it’s date night, and then walked down the road to a Balinese restaurant. Here I had an amazing seafood platter. It had shrimp, prawns, calamari, and a red snapper fillet. Brad ended up getting pork ribs. The food was so good that we actually ate at this restaurant 3 times throughout our time in Bali.

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The second day started off with the big breakfast and then we went to the beach. We decided to lie on a different part of the beach than we did the day before (kind of in a cove today). Anyways, by afternoon when it was low tide, there wasn’t much for waves to play in, so we headed back from the beach and went to the pool that afternoon.

I’ve been carrying around a pair of goggles since we left America because I thought we were going to be teaching somewhere where I would be in salt water a lot more. I hate getting water in my eyes with my contacts, so I put them on and Brad and I had a blast just swimming underwater and taking pictures on my GoPro (shown below). Honestly, I think Brad and I are actually 7-year-old children just trapped in older bodies!

Once the battery on my GoPro had died, we got out and headed up to the room to shower and get ready for dinner. We decided on going back to the same restaurant as the night before, and since we were returning customers we got free spring rolls and 20% off our bill; it was so nice of them! By the time we finished our meal, we were pretty tired from being out in the sun all day, so we headed back to the hotel and went straight to bed.

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The third day, we got up early for breakfast, so we could eat and then get a cab across town to Waterbom Waterpark. This waterpark is supposedly Asia’s number one waterpark and second in the world, so we figured we better check it out!

We got there right when it opened, and to our surprise, there were barely any lines. We started by going down every single waterslide once, and then we went back and did them all again and again! The first slide we went down was called the boomerang, and it involved Brad and I in a double tube. We went down a steep drop and then shot up on to what looked like a huge cookie sheet. You would fly almost to the edge and then slide backwards down the cookie sheet until it leveled out and you were in the pool.

Then, we climbed out of the pool and grabbed our tube to carry it back up the stairs. This time we went down the huge toilet bowl slide, where we went around and around and around, until our tube came out the bottom hole into the pool.

There were a few more tube slides, but nothing too crazy, so I’ll skip to talking about the body slides that you get in the tube and they drop the bottom out from under you. Now I’ve heard about waterslides like this before, but I’ve never done one. So for the first one, I was a little scared. You crawl in this tube and you’re standing on this platform with your arms and legs crossed. They then close the door and a countdown begins. The slide says “three, two, one” and all of the sudden the platform that you are standing on drops out from under you. Your stomach leaps into your throat and you are filled with adrenaline as you shoot straight down! Don't worry though, as you approach the bottom, the slide levels out to stop your momentum.

It was scary while being in the tube and hearing the countdown, but once you get to the bottom you just want to do it again. The park had three slides like this, one that was just straight down, and then the other two went straight down for the first part, and then they had you loop around before coming to the bottom. They all were so fun, and if you get the chance to go on a waterslide like this, you’ll definitely have to try it! Don’t chicken out, I promise it will be okay!

There were also other normal waterslides that didn’t involve you being dropped out of the bottom of the tube, but after doing the extreme slides, the other ones seemed pretty slow and boring. So to keep the adrenaline up, we decided to try out their ‘Flow Rider’ or fake surfing machine.

For the Flow Rider attraction, you got a half an hour to try out either surfing or body boarding. Brad went first and he did great at surfing! Basically, he’s a natural born athlete, me not so much (which is how I ended up with a sprained ankle, but I’ll get to that soon).

Here's a picture of Brad riding the waves!

Once Brad was finished, it was my turn. I started out with the body board, and to my surprise I was doing quite well. I could move forward, back, left, right, throw the board out from under me and then grab it when the water pushed it back to me, and a roll. I could get up on my knees and ride the waves, so by that point I thought I should try the surfboard (enjoy the video below). 

I could stand and balance on this, but not maneuver it too well. Basically all was going well, until the last minute of my time.

For that last minute, I went back to the body board to just have some fun on something I felt more confident on. I was trying to do this roll that I had done before, but I was having trouble with it. Somehow the board ended up getting swept away from me as I was landing on the roll, and I went flying over the top of the wave. That’s not a big deal because that happens every time you fall, but you just have to make sure to not crash in to the wall. You were supposed to put out your feet to stop yourself, and I had done this many times, but this last time was different. I’m not sure what exactly happened, but all of the sudden my ankle was in so much pain and I could not stand up. The people working came over to check on me and Brad had to come up and give me a piggyback ride down.

I iced my ankle for a bit, and after a while I figured I should be fine to walk, but I still wasn’t. I had to get taken in a wheel chair to the clinic at the waterpark and they checked it out. They said nothing was broken, but rather it was just a bad sprain. I can’t really ever remember spraining my ankle this bad before, but hopefully with icing it and trying to stay off it, it will get better soon!

Here is what my ankle looked like.

We got back to the hotel, and I limped up to the room. Brad has been so sweet through all of this! Each night, he would go down and get some ice, and put the pillows in a way that I would be comfortable laying in so that I could ice and elevate my foot. That night, we ordered room service since I couldn’t go anywhere, and then I drifted off to sleep.

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Our fourth day in Bali started a little slow. I was struggling to walk, even just down to get breakfast, so Brad made me just lie in bed and ice my ankle all morning. I convinced him that I would be fine to go lay by the pool, so that afternoon we went down there. (I mean if I’m just going to lie there, I might as well lay in the sun and get a tan!)

I mentioned earlier that Brad and I like to do things and not just lay around and relax, so this day was a bit of a challenge. I kept asking to go to the beach since I mean we are in Bali, we better take advantage of the ocean, but he said no. He probably knows best I guess.

After begging all day to go to the beach, he decided to take me to the beach for dinner. We showered after the pool and got ready, and then went for a romantic, candle lit dinner on the beach. We each got a steak and a drink, and thoroughly enjoyed the evening! My ankle and how I’m doing has been our main topic of conversation for the past 24 hours, so it was nice to just talk and laugh about whatever.

After dinner, we very slowly (like the speed of a snail) walked back to the hotel. I got in bed and Brad set up the pillows for me to elevate my foot. He went down and got the ice, and then I was all ready to let the healing begin! Hopefully my ankles a lot better by tomorrow because we’re scuba diving all day!

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When morning came, my ankle was still very swollen, but it was manageable to walk on. We went down and grabbed a quick breakfast, and then we waited in the lobby until we were picked up and driven to Tulamben wreck, the location we would scuba dive.

The drive to our dive site took about two hours, and during that time, we got to see a completely different side of Bali. The mainland was filled with rice paddies, rolling hills, and a volcano. All beautiful sights, but I think I prefer the beaches!

When we got to the dive site, we reviewed how to use all of the equipment, and then we got ready for our dive! We put on our wet suits and grabbed our flippers. Brad put on his BCD and tank on land and then walked in to the ocean ready to go. I, on the other hand, couldn’t walk with all of that weight, so I went in to the water and then got ready to go.

The dive site was right off the shore, so we simply got in the water, swam out to where it got deeper, and then started to go down. We saw tons of fish, and even got caught in a school of fish passing through. There were also corals covering all of the old debrief from the shipwreck. This shipwreck has made it possible for so many different types of marine life to survive in this area. The ship is their home, and scuba diving through it was an awesome experience that will not be forgotten!

Here are some pictures and a video from our day at Tulamben wreck.

We did one dive in the morning, had lunch, and then did a second dive in the afternoon. In the second dive, we got to swim under the debrief. It was kind of scary because it was dark and you felt like you were trapped, but seeing the different marine life down there, made it worth it.

Once we were done with the second dive, we packed up our equipment and got back in the car. We rode the two hours back across the mainland and then we were dropped back off at our hotel. We had such a great day and I’m glad my ankle did fine at swimming (walking is still not so good).

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Our last day in Bali was spent doing our typical routine, just a little slower because I’m still not walking the best. My ankle doesn’t hurt too much anymore, but it is still pretty swollen.

Anyways, we woke up and went to breakfast and then headed to the beach. We went out and played in the waves, and then came up and read our books. Brad finished his book, and then while I was still finishing mine, he built a sandcastle.

We had one more water sport that we wanted to try in Bali, so that afternoon we headed out to find fly boarding. We walked down the beach and after passing guys who were selling parasailing, jet skiing, snorkeling, etc.; we finally found a guy who offered fly boarding. After haggling over the price a bit, Brad was ready to go!

He was instructed how to use the board and how to stand up, and next thing you know he’s all strapped in and ready to go. I got to ride on the jet ski and take pictures while he did it, and here are a few of those.

For anyone who doesn’t know what fly boarding is, basically it’s a board that has a tube connected to a jet ski. The jet ski controls the amount of water that flows through the tube and the rider of the board controls which way he goes based on how he leans. He can move forward, backward, side to side, and up and down. Here you can watch the video of Brad doing it below to understand what I'm saying.

Once Brad got the hang of it, the guy controlling the jet of water would have him shoot up to 20 feet in the air. Then at that height he simply moved around and tried not to fall!

Brad said it was so much fun, and I’m a little jealous I didn’t get to try it. I definitely would have if my ankle weren’t hurt, but I guess I probably shouldn’t do anything that might hurt it more. Next time I’m somewhere where they have it though, I’ll be doing it (and probably showing up Brad)!

Then, after all of the excitement of fly boarding, we headed back to the hotel to shower and then go out and grab one last seafood dinner. We went back to the restaurant that we ate at the first two nights, and I had the same delicious seafood meal. Brad had a seafood platter as well, but his included crab and lobster; thankfully he shared some of that with me!

We went back after dinner and started to pack up because unfortunately tomorrow morning we have to leave this beautiful island. But we're pretty excited about our next destination. That makes leaving paradise a little easier. Make sure to keep reading to find out where we are next!