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.

_______________________________________________________________________

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.

_______________________________________________________________________

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.

_______________________________________________________________________

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.

_______________________________________________________________________

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!

_______________________________________________________________________

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).

_______________________________________________________________________

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!