Honeymoon - Bali, Indonesia - June 15-18, 2000
The Indonesian Rupiah traded ~8400-8600 per US$1.
It was my first time south of the equator. Nusa Dua is 8 degrees south
longitude.
We stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Nusa Dua, Bali. This is a startling
ride from Denpasar Airport since the living conditions are so different.
Touring was very personal. It was Nina and myself, our guide (Lendra),
and a driver in an air conditioned minivan.
We learning about "Bali time" which means 'I'll get around to it when
I get around to it'. Didn't take long to adjust to that.
We visited temple, volcano, steppe rice paddy, and carvers who make
wonderful teakwood creations.
Turns out a teakwood furniture hunt was planned well before we left
the US - dummy here just didn't know about it. Inspiration was found in
our hotel room (really a huge bungalow-style suite). We chased the artisans
and craftsmen looking for similar fine carving but didn't find anything
that satisfied. (You'll see this theme again).
We sailed a 70-foot sea going Catamaran to an island for the day.
Nina gave away all of our pens in the village to children. Smiles.
We went backpacking through a system of caves that a crazy doctor used
to live in for decades. When I came out of the hole in the ground, it was
like a scene from Indiana Jones where Indy brushes tarantula spiders off
his assistant's back. They weren't tarantulas, but I was covered. Add to
that the bat droppings I identified on the floor of the first cave we entered
and it looks like good family fun.
Then it was beach time for me and Thai massage for Nina. This turned
into a recurring theme for Nina during the rest of the trip. Turns out
Grand Hyatt has this service as well.
The sail back was relaxing. We crashed on the top deck on mats. My
buddy, Yeoman ("what's your name?" "Yeoman."), brought us punch drinks
saying that there was real Bali rice wine therein. It tasted like Tequila
to me, which prompted a discussion about how all Tequila was probably just
Bali rice wine which would make for some very pissed off Mexican people.
It was that kind of day.
My passport and money got soaked when Nina picked me up and threw me
into the Bali sea at the hotel beach. Why did she dooooo that?
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