We left Australia out of Cairns and flew to Darwin, where we had a six hour layover and were trapped in a “holding pen” with crap food selections (#awful). The only redeeming quality of our layover was free wifi. After a quick two and a half hour flight, we made it to the third country on our RTW trip – Indonesia, specifically Bali.
We were picked up from the airport by my former boss (from my first job in California) Martin, and were lucky enough to be staying with him and his wife, Sonya. They live in the Seminyak area of Bali, which is in the center of a lot of the action. The first day involved a lot of eating (pictured below) and really diving head first into the local cuisine. On our first full day in Bali, our first activity of the day (after eating and dropping off almost the entire contents of our bag at the laundry, of course) was a massage. $18 for an hour and a half massage and body scrub – yes, please! After the massage, we headed to hot spot, Ku De Ta (think trendy, LA restaurant on the beach), where Martin was DJ’ing for sunset. We grabbed some pillows on the grass, enjoyed a few cold Bintangs and watched the waves while the sun was setting. Following the sunset, Martin and Sonya took us to try nasi goreng with chicken satay, one of the staple dishes of the locals. A fabulous first day in paradise!
(breakfast fruit tray; breakfast burrito…it’s no Rad House burrito by JB, but pretty tasty)
(first lunch & Bintang)
(sunset at Ku De Ta…those are ship kites flying in the sky)
(our wonderful hosts, Sonya & Martin; Nasi Goreng with Chicken Satay)
