Sanur - And the death of Nikki.

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Sunday 20th
Left Ubud about 10am and an hour or so later arrived at Sanur. We didn't really know what to expect, it's not mentioned in our guide and there isn't great deal of information available about it, but it loked good in postcards. So that is where we went.

Pretty uninspring place really. It was supposed to be the first 'purpose built resort town', but then a town called Nusa Dua was built and overshadowed it completely.

Pretty, fairly pleasant, just a bit too quiet. It would be great for the elderly.
Found a 'homestay', which is basically a generic name here for a hotel that doesn't have a swimming pool, it was nice enough. Called Santi which was behind a shop. It had Swastiki symbols on the headboard on the doors, everywhere, but it was originally a Hindu symbol so it's hardly surprising.

Spent the day walking the beach, and then walking along the main road avoiding touts, saying "No thank you." to taxi's and stopped for lunch at KFC. Everything shut at 9pm-ish.

Monday 21st
Stuck for ideas of what to do (limited options), we payed a hotel worker Rp 30,000 each (about 2 quid) to use a posh hotels swimming pool for the day. So we sunbathed, swam, attempted to avoid hotel staff trying to sell us Spa treatments, massages, bodyscrubs etc etc. whilst Leanne learned to swim underwater. On the way back Matt bought a 'Hard Rock Cafe Bali' tourist T-shirt. Later we did the blog, drank a bottle of Arak(Palm wine somewhere between 40%!a(MISSING)nd 60%!t(MISSING)hey're pretty vague here) and listened to the iPod.

Tuesday 22nd: Disaster day.
Woke with little or no hangovers (miracle) and figured we'd hire Canoes/Kayaks for the day.
So after coughing up the Rp 50,000 each - for one hour, we went paddling away.
At first it was fun, then when Leanne fell out and couldn't get back in, another canoer/kayaker (Balinese guy) helped her get back on it, and we paddled off again. Following the coast down a bit we were having a good time until Matt fell in, and reaching out instinctively managed to knock Leanne off her Kayak.

Amidst the fits of giggles we both had whilst trying to get back on the kayak/canoes, the coastguard guy flying toward us on a speedboat (Balinese Baywatch style, but with receding hair, a pot belly and a lime green T-shirt) came with a look of panic on his face and told us "He had come to save us.". "The current is too strong here.". Moments before we had been swimming just fine. So we got a lift for the 2Km back in his boat only to notice a whole beach of Balinese spectators watching the scene of the rescue operation from chest high water.

So off back to the hotel we went. Only a disaster befell. upon opening the supposedly 'watertight' Oceanpacks, Matt noticed his had leaked. In some kind of warped kind of cosmic cruel joke his wallet, shoes, T-shirt, Cigarettes and snorkel set remained bone dry. Meanwhile his supposedly 'Weatherproof and water-resistant' camera bag had acted as a sponge might. Needless to say the camera was wet. It now will not take photos, show photos or operate in any way as a camera should. He is gutted obviously.

The one saving grace is that not trusting modern things Matt had (with OCD) put the image storage portable HDD in a freezer bag. If not we would have lost ALL our photo's up till now! So that's one good thing.

The rest of the day was an atempt to dry the camera with a Muji portable hairdryer and sort out the insurance.

Later we went for a few drinks to celebrate the life of 'Nikki' (the camera), rather than mourn her death. The bar had a live acoustic guitar player doing James Blunt covers and the like. Leanne laughed (giggle loop fashion) as all the songs were about love lost.

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Photos

Matt in his Kayak/Canoe
Moments before the tragic death of 'Nikki' the Nikon D80. Her loss will be deeply felt.

Our pool.
We paid to use it for the day but didn't see another hotel guest or tourist all day.

Comments

[BILLY]

RIP NIKKI
SO SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT NIKKI.. MY WIFE AND I HAVE BEEN TO BALI TWICE AND THINK NIKKI COULD NOT HAVE PICKED A BETTER FINAL RESTING PLACE...SHE IS WITH THE GODS. HAPPY TRAILS.. BILLY.