Our Bali journey has come to an end and we are all feeling mixed emotions - Todd is quite sad (especially about the end of his daily massages), Gordy seems a little confused about what is happening next, and I'm leaning towards being excited to go home. The food has been spectacular (some of the best we've ever eaten), our hotel and it's staff were quite great, and the three of us had tons of fun together at beaches, pools, and on scooter rides... however, I really can't get past the rubbish/plastic burning.
We've learned through various expats that the landfills have recently reached their capacities, so the rubbish pickups have stopped for most of the island. As a result, for the last 3 weeks, locals have increased the amount of rubbish that they are burning because it seems that they have no other disposal option. The consequence is that at the end of each day, toxic smoke fills the air almost no matter where you go.
I'm not sure what will happen to Bali moving forward, but I can say that I don't want any of us to be a part of it. Until this island and its people can figure out a more green and sustainable way of living, we will be finding another place to holiday. Sampai jumpa our beloved Bali.
After 3 days in our Easton Canggu hotel, we set out in search of a more long term place to call home - and boy did we succeed. For nearly half the price of the Easton, we have a great room at the Umpadhi Canggu.
This little boutique hotel is a block north of where all the Canggu madness starts, so it's pretty quiet, and there happens to be a little massage shop around the corner with the best masseuse that Todd or I have ever had. The hotel pool is great and the staff are all very friendly. They even make the towels into cute little animals and leave notes on the bed for Gordy and Gory's stuffed animal Soggy Doggy :)
Now that we've found this little gem, we've settled into quite a daily routine - wake up, drive 5mins to the waterpark with the 50m pool for our morning swim/play, enjoy a killer breakfast at one of 100 restaurants for between $10 - $20 (depending on how hipster the restaurant is), take turns getting a massage while Gordy swims in the pool/naps - all before lunchtime. This is living!
If it weren't for the constant burning of rubbish and plastics making the air somewhat toxic, we'd have to consider making this a permanent home...
Our Bali trip would not be complete with at least one (so far we've been 3 times) trip for roti canai and teh tarik. I'm not sure which Gordy would say he likes more - the roti egg or the teh tarik spesial.
The good news is that it's still as good as it used to be... the bad news is that because it's so good, we are going to have to go back again before our trip is over.
Indonesian people (men and women) are absolutely infatuated with Gordy. Everywhere we go, people are pinching his cheeks, kissing him, picking him up and toting him around, and constantly calling his name. Not only does he not seem to mind it too much, he is very much enjoying the attention. At every opportunity, he'll show off his counting to 10 in Indonesian skills, or he'll knuckles it up with a sea star finish. It's pretty cool to see him acting so comfortable in such an unfamiliar place.
After 18 hours of flying, a delayed plane, a nearly missed second flight, lost luggage, the slowest taxi ride we've ever experienced, and a bit of attempted shystering from the hotel, we finally made it to our room in Bali.
Our first plane to Shanghai was late to arrive, so we departed about and hour and a half later that expected. This didn't bode well for us as we were only scheduled to have about an hour and a half to transfer planes in the Shanghai airport. When we got off the plane, an attendant was there waiting for us with special large, orange "express transfer" stickers that he slapped on our shoulders before leading us on a running spree to the other end of the airport. He took us through special VIP lines and checkpoints through immigration, security, etc. getting us to our plane just in time for boarding. Sadly, our luggage didn't get the same treatment. It was left in China scheduled to arrive on the last flight of the following day meaning that we were all stuck in our plane clothes from Saturday morning HST until Tuesday after lunch Bali time... not what you want in a sweaty hot place where clothes don't dry quickly from washing.
And, while all of that was definitely frustrating, we are not complaining (anymore). We finally got our luggage, have each had a massage a day, have gotten some laps in at a waterpark with a 50m pool that we had all to ourselves while Gogo played on the slides, and have eaten like kings at various healthy restaurants in Canggu. We've moved out of our first hotel into a cool, more reasonably priced one in a better area, and have no plans for the next few days other than continuing our daily massages and good food.
