Blogs from Amed, Bali, Indonesia, Asia

Five years. I did not even realize it had been that long since we last immersed ourselves in the ocean depths with our scuba gear, until I went to fill out my dive log later and noted the date of our last dive: April 4, 2018. We had been booked to dive in 2019 but had to cancel our dive trip after we both got head colds, as one absolutely cannot dive when congested. In 2020 our dive trip was cancelled as we were required to return to Canada early because of the Covid call back. We had the privilege of being reintroduced to scuba with a refresher course from Phari, the same excellent dive instructor who first taught us and provided us with our PADI Dive Certification in 2014. That was nine years ago. We ... read more

The hotel said they’d give us a free transfer to the train station. We’d double confirmed with them it would be there at 5am. The station was a good 10 minutes away and we had to swap our booking confirmation for a ticket. The train was at 5:25am. There was us and a security guard who couldn’t speak English in a dark lobby as the clock ticked and it became apparently our ride wasn’t showing. We hadn’t waited until much past 5am to start trying to engage him. We had not got up at that time in the morning to miss a comfortable train ride, to spend double the time on an uncomfortable bus. It became clear that he didn’t know what to do and was just hoping it was going to show. By ten past ... read more

Gdy pierwszy raz doświadczy się trzęsienia ziemi, a nie ma ono zbyt dużej amplitudy, wzrasta respekt przed siłą matki natury. Jest trochę jak podmuch porządnego wiatru. Tylko trochę innego, bo drżą od niego szyby w oknach i trochę wariuje błędnik. Gdy wczoraj popołudniu przyjechaliśmy do Amed, w recepcji hotelu ostrzeżono nas, że możemy odczuwać lekkie drżenia ziemi, spowodowane wzrastającą akywnością wulkanu Agung. Lecz uspokojono nas, że strefa zagrożenia to okolo 13 km a my jesteśmy ok 20 km od wulkanu :). Poza tym lawa zazwyczaj spływa (ostatnio w 1963 roku) bardziej na wschód i północ od Amed. No to już zupełnie wyluzowani poszliśmy na kolację. Tu odczuliśmy pierwszy wstrząs. Po godzinie drugi, po dwóch trzeci i już miałem problem z zaśnięciem, ponieważ podczas kolacji dostaliśmy insrukcję jak się zachowac, gdy będą mocniejsze. Obserwując ludzi widzieliśmy w ... read more

Sarah: I am writing this from our little beachside bungalow in Jemeluk Bay, in northeast Bali. After Tom and Jen left early Thursday morning, we spent Thursday deciding how to spend our days until we were due to hear from the bank about our swallowed bank card... We were both ready to leave Seminyak so on Friday morning a driver picked us up to take us on the three hour drive up the east coast. We arrived at lunchtime to our little beach bungalow and were met by an army of helpful faces. We settled down for a bite to eat at the cafe attached to our accommodation and were delighted to see that there was plenty of choice, all for less than £3 a dish. Nasi goreng and grilled calamari with rice were the orders ... read more

If Ubud felt a bit centered around tourism, Amed at the east coast of Bali is even more so. While most things in Ubud seem to center around Balinese culture, in Amed it is all about beaches, snorkeling and diving. Most houses in the towns (the area consists of 7 separate towns, but as they are growing more and more into each other they are all referred to as Amed) are offering lodging, food, diving or all three of them. There are also a lot of fishers living there and many of the beaches are filled with fishing boats, but the tourists probably consume most of the days catch every evening. We had originally planned to try to find some kind of meditation and/or yoga center and spend some days snorkeling and stretching, but while googling ... read more