I'm not sure if I mentioned how much hotter it feels on the Gili Islands vs. being in Bali? The pools aren't heated but they feel like a jacuzzi once you step into them. Also, just until recently all of the hotel showers were only salt water. Not sure how one could feel clean after being hot and sticky from being in the sun and the water and then going back to your hotel and trying to wash off with salt water. Obviously the natives have been doing it for years! One of the reasons we stayed at Luce D'Alma was [View Full Entry]

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Ok class, here's today's quiz. If I leave Gili Trawangan at 11:30 am on the 13th, travel by fast boat to Bali, then transfer to a taxi for an hour and half drive to Jimbaran to get back to the Intercontinental hotel, stop there for a 3 hour massage and dinner, travel to airport for a 1:20 am flight on Korean Air on the 14th to Seoul, then onto Narita Japan then stop in Portland for a few hours and then get to Mpls at 5 pm still on the 14th....how many hours will I actually be flying? You can use [View Full Entry]

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It was time to say good bye to Jennifer as she was catching the Gili Cat fast boat back to Bali a day early because her flight leaves at 2 pm on the 13th. Jerri had lined up Montana (the waiter from the Beach Cafe) for us to charter a private boat for the two of us today to go explore the other two islands. It was a traditional Balinese boat that had the outriggers on it. There was a nylon hammock between the boat and the outriggers on both sides so Jerri and I each got to ride on the [View Full Entry]

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As I pulled up the zipper of my wetsuit I began to get a claustrophobic feeling. If just putting on a wetsuit could do that to me how would it be to have a weight belt, tank and a mask on my face feel once I got into the water? Jennifer and I were in the process of learning how to dive in the Trawangan Dive pool when I suddenly realized that this was just not for me. I'm more than content to swim on the surface of the water and see the beautiful fish down below me. Why go through [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Bali this morning was difficult but made some what easier knowing that we were heading to the Gili Islands. (one of my travel mates, who will remain anonymous, came home at 5:30 in the morning after being out all night!) We were picked up at the hotel by a driver at 6:30 to make the hour and a half drive to the harbour to catch the fast boat (the Gili Cat). Its amazing how different each part of the island looks. This was on the eastern part of Bali and had more palms trees and vegetation. We drove through sleepy [View Full Entry]

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When I signed up to go white water rafting in Bali I thought, how bad could it be? It was way more thrilling than I certainly had anticipated! We took a bus from Jimbaran to Ubud then had to walk down 1000 steps (yes a 1000!) to get down to the river. It was a breathtaking view but I must say that my calves were burning by the time I got down to the bottom. They had parts of a leaves rolled up and stapled together as a biodegradable dixie cup for water. What a brilliant idea! It was Jerri, Brad, [View Full Entry]

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As usual the 3 of us (Jerri, Jennifer and myself) were trying to cram 10 lbs of sightseeing into a 5 lb day! But there's so much to do and so little time on this island! We had our driver pick us up early to get a start on the day since we needed to drive an hour north of Ubud to get to the Gitgit Waterfalls. Its the only twin waterfall in all of Indonesia. Besides the 22M Twin waterfalls, there's the cascading waterfalls as well as the massive 60M waterfall to hike to. We hired one of the local [View Full Entry]

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With much excitement we met our driver Wayan this morning in hopes of getting a jump start to our day of meeting Ketut Liyer (the medicine man from "Eat, Pray, Love") in Ubud as well as doing some additional shopping. Over the week-end Wayan had found out where Ketut lived since it wasn't necessarily common knowledge where Ketut lived. When we arrived at his compound there were already 3 other women there talking to him and getting their palms read. [View Full Entry]

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Sunday, April 5th Took catamaran from Bali to the island of Nusa Lembongan today. Beautiful sailing. Arrived at the island and went snorkeling off of a floating pontoon. Beautiful coral reefs and wonderful tropical fish to see. Even feed them by hand. Went back to the island to have a wonderful buffet lunch. There was a slide that went into the salt water pool. Lunch consisted of chicken satay, prawns, fruit, salad, exquisite. After lunch went on a banana boat with Jerri, Jennifer, Brad and John. Brad,b eing the crazy man, decided to make sure that we landed in the water. [View Full Entry]

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After the group arrived yesterday we all headed off to get a bite to eat and ended up at a restaurant that was right on the beach. They set up tables for the 20 of us with candlelight and the whole bit! We could go choose our fish for dinner that night if we wanted to but I thought I've been close enough to the food chain before that I didn't need to meet the poor guy right before they killed him and grilled him up! Dinner was around $8 for the whole meal. It was fun dining out under the [View Full Entry]

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