Beautiful Bali

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We went on a lovely one-week vacation to Indonesia. The Darwin airport is about 10 minutes from our house, so we asked the taxi to be here 20 minutes before the time we wanted to arrive at the airport. Plenty of wiggle room and we were proud for being so on the ball. We were starting off our trip on the right foot!

Our pride turned into disbelief and then into fear, when halfway to the airport the taxi driver ran over a curb and we heard: "whooooooooshhhhhhh". I said: "Did you hear that?!" and the driver said "oh don't worry, that's nothing". Well the 'nothing' turned out to be a flat tire. So we pulled over, a five-minute drive from the airport. So near, yet so far. There we were stranded on a busy street and the international airport gates were closing in 12 minutes.

We tried flagging down cars but no one would stop. Tic toc, tic toc. I'd almost resigned myself to the idea that we wouldn't be getting on a plane that night. Then Majeed jumped out in front of a jeep and the two women inside, who were on their way to a pole dancing lesson, agreed to give us a ride to the airport! They were totally awesome and got us there with two minutes to spare. We ran to the gate and despite the unpleasant welcome from the gate attendant, we got in. We were flying with Jetstar aka Shitstar (see previous blog: We paid the price ) so we had expected shitty attitudes anyway.

Upon our arrival to Denpasar, Bali, we were warmly welcome by Nyoman (awesomely pronounced Yo Man), a local man who's a friend of a friend who picked us up and drove us to Seminyak, a very happening area in Bali where we stayed for the next two nights.

Scroll down to see more pictures!

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Photos

Nyoman
It's pretty awesome to arrive at the airport and be met by a very welcoming man with your name on a sign! Especially when you get to greet him by saying: Yo Man (Nyoman)!

Late night dinner
As soon as we secured a cute little villa which was steps away from the beach, we wandered around and found a local restaurant where we had some delicious Indonesian food as well as our first Bintang, a delightful and very cheap beer.

Gorgeous orchids
There were many orchids on our hotel grounds.

Shrine at our hotel
There are shrines, small and large, everywhere in Bali: on the road, on the fences, in doorways, in back alleys, you name it. This was a larger shrine, right on our hotel grounds. The offerings and flowers are replaced DAILY and include a small ceremony.

Bessie, our scooter
We rented a scooter for the duration of our time in Bali. You can't beat 5$ a day.

Lovely statue
As with the shrines, the statues are dressed up and decorated daily with fresh flowers. Such care in the details! I loved it.

My poser hubby
Inside our cute little villa in Seminyak.

Good times!
Living it up at a bar. All the bars were really beautiful and huge, often with swimming pools but usually fairly empty. We visited during the low season.