Quiet life

Trip Start Sep 02, 2009

Trip End Sep 27, 2009

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Where I stayed

anom beach inn

Flag of Indonesia Candidasa, Bali, Indonesia
Monday, September 21, 2009

Monday was a quite day. A little rain came in through breakfast, and the sun never quite made it out all day. Despite the dark clouds, we still sat and read by the ocean for most of the day. Gary got a $5.00 massage by one of the women who hang out at the beach waiting for such business. We are hoping the weather will clear up with some sun so we can enjoy some snorkeling.
Wednesday we finally woke up to some sun!! This was well work the wait, as the water was so blue and clear and the vegetation so lush and green. Our plan was to make a loop around the northeast side of the island finding somewhere to snorkel and a working ATM. There is no ATM in Candidasa where we are staying, so once we head north we look for ATM's in Amlapura, which is about 15km away. As luck would have it, 3 times is a charm, and after 5 days I finally have money. I think the Indonesean banks have been closed due to the holidays connected to Ramadan ending. Bali is the only Hindu island of this Muslim country

3 scary dragons

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Our next stop is Ganga Tirta (water palace) which is a lovely water palace and major tourist
place. We took some pictures. I guess there is some good hiking in the area, but we didn't stay too long as the beach was our next stop. After inquiring from several people, we heard that the best snorkeling was near Amed, and that you could just walk out from the beach and the coral was right there.
Sure enough, just east of Amed we see several people in the water and some signs among the cafes and dive shops pointing out beach access. The snorkeling was not as good as going out on the island but last week, but it was pretty darn good and such easy access. The ocean is so calm here that it was easy to snorkel for long periods of time. We saw a fantastic variety of fish, and the reef went on forever.
Last leg of our journey was to complete the loop and take the longer route home along the coast line. It was mentioned somewhere that this part of Bali was more untouched with 3 radios and one TV per thousand people etc. We passed some surprisingly nice hotels and then the road got windier and smaller and less paved and more rural. Soon we were an oddity as little children were yelling "hello", and people stopped and stared at us as we passed. Yes, we took the road less traveled and lived to tell about it. Luckily, Gary is good with phrases in the local language like " which way to Candidasa". We finally made it home just before dark.

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