Bali...again

We just got back from a great weekend in Bali. We had dinner a few months ago with our friends, Holly, Jeff, Rich, and Gloria, and we all decided that we wanted to try surfing. I was unemployed. That meant that I had time to follow up. We got tickets, and this past weekend was the time. I am on the "every-six-months" Bali plan. It's my fourth time in a year and a half. I should really stop, but I'm addicted. I absolutely love Bali.

We arrived on Friday night, late, and after a small incident where we lost an ATM card, we went to Kuta - like Kuta Kuta. I actually went out after midnight in Kuta. Totally not me. We found a great chill place on the beach, though.

We met up with one of Matt's friends, Dan, from SAIS, for lunch on Saturday. Turned out that our hotel was right next to the surf school - quite handy. And, Dan also is taking surf lessons there. We met up with Rich and Jess, and we prepped for our surf lesson. Lots of sun screen, rash guards (shirts), and shorts...We ran, stretched, and we learned about the parts to the surf board. We learned how to pull ourselves up onto the board, on our bellies, and ride it into the beach. Then we came back to learn how to get up on the board - went back out into the waves, and we got up. Some impressions - it's quite similar to windsurfing and water skiing - i.e. it didn't feel that weird to me to get up on the board. It's very fast - you FLY! The hardest part is getting out in the waves and waiting for THE wave. I pulled tons of muscles on my upper body just trying to control that board. The waves were HUGE. It was totally exhausting. We absolutely loved it.

We spent the rest of the weekend in Ubud. We found a place that had great bbq - and we closed the place down. We sat through a huge rainstorm, a lot of drinks, desserts, and the lights turning off...until we realized that we had to pay. We put all of our money together and realized that we had a total of 20,000 rupiah left (US$2). Lucky. We went for a super long walk on Saturday - and then we went straight to the spa. Holly, Jeff, and I all got great massages. It was in a salon that was in a Balinese kampung, and we each had our own little room with a massage table and a tub. It had an open ceiling, so we could watch birds and pomello trees. It was amazing. Two hours including a massage, a scrub, and a bath in flowers (which felt like bathing in loose tea).

One last story. Holly is allergic to peanuts. If she eats peanuts or has too much of them around her, she could die. On the plane this afternoon, the people in front of us were eating peanuts. Lots of peanuts - in the shell and out. Lots and lots of peanuts. We called the steward over to ask him to request that they stop eating peanuts. He said, "we can't guarantee a peanut free flight, ma'am." She said, "well, I could die." He said, "well, we don't guarantee a peanut free flight." I just asked the people in front of us to stop eating peanuts. The steward came back and said, "I want you to know that we also sell peanuts on this flight. It is not peanut free." Do you THINK that MAYBE you could just BEND the rules so she doesn't DIE? No! We go only by the rules!!!