................Taking Flight...............: MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas from Bali!

We landed around 6am. We looked outside and it was a little overcast and looked drizzly. We payed for our Visa on Arrival and then waited to get Krystle's bag. Then, we stepped out into Bali. It wasn't as humid or warm as I was expecting, but it was still both. My camera fogged up, which I was expecting after reading a blog about Bali. We went in search of a taxi, looking for the Blue Bird company which we heard was the most reputable. As soon as you step out, there are taxi drivers standing around saying, "hello, yes, taxi?" or "taxi? taxi?" or "where are you going?". It was a bit overwhelming to be pressured so much to take a taxi. We finally found a Blue Bird taxi and were helped by an airport worker into the taxi. After a maybe 20 minute ride we arrived at our hotel, only needing to pay about $2.50 a piece for the ride.

We had a nice Christmas present when we arrived at the hotel... Check in isn't until 2, but no one was in our room, so we were able to check in early!! It was around 7:30 or so when we arrived so we took a rest and then went for breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. Then we checked out the tour brochures near the front desk. We sat outside and poured over them deciding what to do. After we decided what tours we'd take, we went to go sign up for them. Krystle and I had wanted to do a shark dive at a conservation place, but because of her glasses, she wouldn't be able to use the snorkel/underwater equipment, so we passed on that. Instead, we signed up right away for a sunset tour for that evening. We went back to our room to relax and then looked for lunch. We found a place that was more Western but also had Balinese options. The only problem was that it took so long for us to get our food because there was a family of 6 or 7 that ordered before us. We cut it down to the wire when we needed to be back at the hotel and Krystle didn't even get to eat her pizza; she had it made to go and we ran to the hotel.

Our driver for the tour was a 20 year old Balinese college student. He was really nice. First we went to Nusa Dua, a peninsula/area where we were able to see the Indian Ocean on one side and on the other a bay. After walking around that area a little, we went onto Uluwatu Temple, which is on the top of a cliff. It was beautiful. After walking around there we went to see a traditional Balinese dance performed on the grounds of the temple. It was interesting~there were about 40 men as the "choir" to the dance kind of chanting and they sat in a circle around a fire "pit". Then there were dancers dressed up some as humans and some as monkeys.

When the play was over, we met up with our driver again and went off to have dinner on the beach. The only problem was the restaurant served mostly only seafood. A problem for someone that doesn't like seafood and the other is vegetarian! Luckily they had grilled chicken on the menu as a side which I ordered and poor Krystle only had rice. The best part of the meal was feeding some scraps to a female dog. After dinner, we got dropped back off at the hotel and I was able to skype with Mom and Phil to make my Christmas complete.