Last Days in Bali

Last days in Bali

The evening before the wedding Sherry’s family hosted a home cooked dinner at the villa where they were staying. About 1.5 hours away. This was for immediate family so Steff, Phil, John and I planned a dinner outing at Jimbaran beach. That afternoon I wasn’t feeling well after a fish n chips lunch so I elected to skip that excursion. The others took off with reliable Budi.

John said that on arrival in the beach town it appeared that only shacks selling seafood, and not many of them, lined one side of the street.

Budi turned the car into a narrow dark alley and John was a little uncomfortable. We had had an “alley event” in Beijing one time and he was having flashbacks.

They reached a very crowded parking lot then walked through one of the storefronts which they now realized was the front of a dining spot on the beach. Tables crammed as far as you could see, down to edge of the water. As the tide rose tables had to be moved back. Here are photos from that adventure where they had a huge seafood dinner served family style. Quite a variety of fish and shellfish piled on the table.

While they were out I spent the evening on our bed in our villa. Very thankful I came prepared with a variety of OTC intestinal disturbance drugs! My brother calls it “Bali Belly.” The day before my niece had to take a trip to the hospital in Nusa Dua with an asthma episode and upper respiratory infection. Nephew Drew went along to translate. He is a brilliant linguist, in addition to being a writer. The hospital/clinic was in the Western people’s hotel area and, actually run by Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Sara said it was very clean, efficient, with knowledgeable medical staff.

That same night as the beach dinner there were preparations going on for the new moon festival. There is a Hindu temple on the. Resort grounds. White garbed men sat cross legged on the ground in front of the Temple chanting and softly ringing bells for hours. It was a soothing sound to me as they blessed the temple in preparation for the upcoming holiday. At some point women and children in beautiful white lace tops accented with bright yellow came to the temple, too. (I asked before I took their picture. )

Oh crap. I’m writing this on an Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur and it suddenly got very rough. Hope my Uncle Chin’s chicken and rice meal stays put.

Between John and I sits a man with a hacking cough and a gas issue. Dear God I wish I had a mask!

Will cover wedding day in a separate post. You may have seen the gazillion pix on FB!

Back after turbulence ends.