Blue Lagoon

After getting worked over at surfing, the next day we decided to leave Echo Beach to the professionals and went snorkeling instead. We hired a driver to take us to the Blue Lagoon, a highly rated snorkeling sport near Padang Bai, about an hour and a half drive from us. The drive itself was really nice, as we got to see a mix of both the crazy city and then the transition to farmland.

Drew kept saying, we should rent a scooter! Scooter! SCOOTER! But, I put my foot down. If we were just cruising around our little small town, that's one thing. But traveling from one side of the island to another is another story. First of all, the place is overrun by scooters. They ride everywhere, and there is no predicting what they will do. Some ride nicely on the edge of the road. Some zoom down the center. The cars, therefore, do even more erratic things to get around said scooters. They pass them going down the middle of the road, with cars in oncoming traffic, essentially making three lanes on a two lane road. That's problem #2 with driving in Bali. There are no rules other than stay left. But even that doesn't always happen. I've seen roundabouts where a car cuts across the middle of the roundabout and shoots out the other side. On top of all of that, the roads aren't marked at all. And trying to find your way while trying to not get hit on a scooter doesn't sound like fun. So, in the end, we hired drivers pretty much every time we wanted to go somewhere far. It would cost about $50 for the day, but then the rest of the day's activities were cheap, so it made it affordable. For instance, renting our snorkeling gear costed $5 per person.

We didn't actually get any pictures of us snorkeling, so this is my representation. The two pictures below are of the blue lagoon itself. It was a small little lagoon, with beautiful water and white sands. The water itself had some debris floating on it because it had rained heavily recently, but once we were in the water looking down at the fish it didn't bother us. The snorkeling was great. The coral itself was more colorful that what we saw in Hawaii, but Drew said the Caribbean spots he went to were even more so. We saw lots of beautiful fish; nothing large but lots of small colorful guys. 

 After snorkeling, we went to the lagoon next door which is where a lot of boats were anchored. The boats would take you out on farther snorkeling adventures if you wanted to.

More doggies. This one has a brindled coat, but other than that looks very similar to Trig. You can also see how junked up this beach is. If there isn't a resort right on the beach, nobody comes by to clean it. 

 We, of course, had to stop for lunch. I had grilled Marlin. Delicious! I love steaky fish. Barracuda was on the menu, but they were out that day. Drew had yellow pork curry. In the curry was one little pepper. He decided to eat it, and for the first time in our marriage I got to see Drew cry. It was that hot! Don't think he'll try one of those again. We also had our obligatory fruit smoothies. Mine was pineapple. How can you refuse a fruit drink when its so fresh?

Here Drew is drinking a Bintang, the main Balinesian beer. It's just like any pilsner you've ever had, but it tastes good on a hot afternoon. 

 On the drive home, our driver took us to a few tourist traps. We agreed to this just to see what they were about, and I am glad we did. The first was a shop that makes hand-made dyed clothes. It's this whole process of drawing a pattern, dying the cloth, covering the dye with wax to protect it, drawing another pattern of top of the old one, dyeing it another color, and so on. At the end, the wax is melted off to reveal every color used. Apparently a larger piece takes about a month to make, and as such, everything was really expensive. But, it was beautiful stuff!

The second place was a factory where they made silver jewelry. They actually gave us a tour of the factory to see how they made it, then, of course, ushered us into the store with the finished products to try to get us to buy stuff. The factory looks like a sweat shop from the picture below, but it's not. Just a really rudimentary factory. You have to remember the only real industry in Bali is tourism. So this job of being a jewelry maker is actually a good job for these people. It's reliable income with normal hours. The sad part about it is a lot of these workers are young folks, maybe 16-25 years old. They probably didn't finish school, and this is a job they can do without a high education. We saw a guy finish his shift for the day, and when he left a security guard scanned him with a metal detector to make sure he didn't steal any silver on his way out. 

These are statues on the outside of the silver factory and shop. Drew really liked the pig one for some reason.

Bali-Echo Beach

For the second part of Ryan and Alecia's trip they took off to see Phuket, Thailand, while Drew and I went to Bali, an island in Indonesia. It sounds weird that we didn't go somewhere all together, but we had the Bali trip booked a long time ago, and by the time Ryan and Alecia were looking at things, flights to Bali were pretty expensive, and all of the rooms at our villas were booked. 

Drew and I got to Bali really late Thursday night. We had hired a driver to come pick us up, so we went straight to the Villa Phoenix that we found using AirBnb. The villa was in Canggu, near Echo Beach. It was a perfect place for us, as Canggu is much smaller and more relaxed than the bigger tourist towns of Kuta, Depensar, and Semayak, which are all further south near the airport. 

The villa itself was beautiful. It had four rooms, and the owner lived on site with her tiny puppy Kiss. She was in and out most of the time, but there were two really friendly Balinesian women who would cook us breakfast every morning, clean up etc. There were surf boards you could borrow, a beautiful pool to cool off in, and a cabana over a pool of lilies and reeds. You'd never have to leave if you didn't want to. 

It was a five minute walk (if that) to the nearby Echo Beach. The beach itself was a mix of sand and reef. The waves were very big, so between that and the reef, it wasn't a great place to swim. But, along the beach was a little town with a few shops and restaurants where Drew and I spent two nights in awe of the sunset, watching the surfers. 

This was our dinner the first real night. We had satay, which is a very traditional, popular Balinesian dish. We also had grilled Mahi Mahi, yum, some salads, and Beef Rendang. And, of course, fruit smoothies of all sorts. 

One thing Bali has a lot of are dogs. They look like strays, because they wander about on their own, covering the streets and people's front stoops. However, most of them do have a "home" or a family that feeds them. But none of them are allowed inside, none of them are fixed, and all are willing to beg for food. We never saw an aggressive one; they actually made our stay more enjoyable as we got to watch them everywhere. 

Why did you go to a surfing beach instead of a swimming beach one might ask? Well, Drew and I indeed wanted to take surfing lessons. We have surfed once before on our honeymoon in Hawaii and loved it. Needless to say, I figured they would take us to another beach other than Echo that was more suited for beginners. But nope, we got thrown into the deep end on this one. We should have just walked away, but we decided to give it a go. We were hoping to look like this. 

But, in the end, we looked like this. 

We survived, but being rung in the washer is not a fun experience. I would not suggest Echo Beach for beginners. There was a point where I had been thrown around so much, I actually got seasick out there and had to come to shore for a break. That was very weird for me, as I have spent a lot of my childhood swimming in the Atlantic Ocean at my grandparent's beach house in North Carolina, and that had never happened. But, apparently, this was a different class of waves. Eventually I did get up about 3 times, but it was a hard fought 3 times. In the end, we still had fun, but I should have done more research for beginner beaches. 

Cousin Time

On the 2nd day of Ryan and Alecia's trip, I took them back to Sai Kung, the same park Drew and I had visited a few weeks earlier. The beach is just too picturesque not to visit. We took public transit this time to get out there. I think from the time we left our house til when we got to the trailhead was about an hour and forty minutes, so it certainly isn't the closest place around. But, that's what makes it less crowded and beautiful. Ryan and Alecia killed the hike, despite it being again very hot. Those two never complained for a second! During the hike, you pass through this tiny village that owns a herd of cows. The cows free range wherever they like to go. Last time, they were off the trail, so we never had a problem. This time though, a mom was on the road with her tiny baby calf behind her. If there is one thing I learned from hiking in CO, it's that you never try to get between an animal and her baby. So, needless to say, we had to do a bit of bushwhacking to get around this stompy mama cow. Moooo.... Where is dad to make his classic cow impressions when you need him? These aren't the actual cows, but you get the idea. The mom did have short horns like that though.

Once we got to the beach, we went over the the restaurants to grab lunch. I was nervous about this part, as I wasn't sure if they would be open, seeing as it was a weekday. Luckily, one out of three was open, so we didn't have to rely on my plan B of granola bars. But, I had a plan B this time! See, I'm learning! Sweet and sour fish. Mmm mmm good.

We spent a few hours in the water, bobbing around and relaxing. Again, super warm water, and nonexistent waves, so it's like sitting in a beautiful bathtub.

To get back, instead of hiking out, we took an awesome boat ride from the beach back to the main Sai Kung pier. It was about a 40 min ride, and it was a blast. It was super choppy at the beginning, but our driver didn't care. We pounded through everything, throwing us all over the place. We also passed some amazing rock walls, coves, and islands we'd have never seen otherwise. It was a great journey, and well worth the money. 

That evening, we had a dinner party at our place with some of our friends here. There were about 8 of us all together. One friend named Andrew made a kick ass Cambodian dish, while another, Pavel, made a fantastic sausage and pepper risotto. And he nailed it! A risotto! 

The next morning we slept in a bit, then made our way to the south side of the island to see the expat side of things. We went to the Stanley market, where again Ryan and Alecia haggled like pros. Then, we went and grabbed lunch at a pizza place along the main water front. Not going to lie, it was nice to have a bit of Western food for a change. 

We slowly made our way back to the other side of island, stopping for views, more markets etc in Stanley. For dinner, we went to a favorite sushi place called Genki sushi. Its nice because its high quality stuff, but its not expensive and its relatively fast. We loved the soft shell crab hand rolls.

That night, we went to another one of my favorite places, the Happy Valley horse race track. Normally, you can walk right into the track. This time, however, it was packed because it was the last race of the season. As such, we actually had to wait outside for about 45 min until we could get inside. It also started to pour, but luckily we were in a covered area and didn't get soaked, unlike a lot of people. Ryan and Alecia really embraced the spirit of the track, including the betting and socializing with other westerners, and seemed to have a lot of fun. I think Ryan actually won a few times, but I did not. When you pick a horse placed solely on the name, that's bound to happen. Granted the name was Griffindor.....

The Failures of Tour Guide Mo

Hi all,

Apologies again for being such an absentee. Between my cousins, Ryan and Alecia, visiting and then heading straight to Bali for vacation, the last few weeks have been really busy! The next few posts will be a brief overview of what Ryan, Alecia, and I got up to from July 7-10. 

They arrived on Sunday night around 7pm. Knowing the importance of staying up late that first night, we all went out to dinner at Din Tai Fung, a very popular dim sum restaurant here in causeway bay.  Ryan and Alecia did great with their first Asian meal, handling chopsticks like pros and willing to try anything we ordered. 

Later that night, we want to the Wan Chai red light district. It's not as bad as it sounds. It's basically a whole street of cool bar, then velvet curtain strip club, then cool bar, then strip club etc. We were going to the bars to watch the championship Wimbledon match, and it was a lot of fun. Found some Scottish people who were very pumped about Andrew Murray. 

On Monday, we started off having breakfast at the infamous Australian Dairy Company. Drew and I have been there before, and it's always delicious. Weirdly, I ordered us three breakfast sets, but somehow only one showed up. Why would three people come to a restaurant and order only one meal between them? Needless to say, eventually we reordered and everyone got fed. 

Next, we want to a tailor in Kowloon called Nita Fashions that was recommended to Ryan by a friend. Both Ryan and Alecia got a few things, including suits, jackets, dress shirts, etc. It's a cool experience knowing that the piece is being made just for you. It was funny though. In the shop, the salesmen were actually Indian, probably because they had better English and negotiating skills. The tailors themselves were Chinese, and they worked somewhere else outside of the store. 

Next, we want to all of the markets in Mongkok. We started at the ladies market where Ryan and Alecia both picked up the negotiating game really quickly, and they got some really good deals to show for it. 

The goldfish market followed, which was less a in-the-street market and more a road filled with pet and aquarium shops. So many beautiful fish, turtles, puppies, etc. 

The last market was the flower market. This was more for sightseeing and less for shopping. So many orchids! Mom would have been in heaven!

After the markets, we went back to Kowloon for lunch. My original idea was to go to a Korean place. As Drew and I just came back from Korean, I was already craving the food, and figured Id be able to recognize a lot of the menu items. I used open rice, an app similar to yelp in the US, to find a place. Unfortunately, it was a dinner only place. Boo. Strike one against tour guide Mo. Because we were starving, and it was 3pm, we decided to try a Chinese place near the closed Korean one. It was still busy, which at the time in the afternoon is a good sign. However, things went quickly downhill from there. For starters, they didn't have an English menu, so we ordered based on pictures. It is very rare for a restaurant in Hong Kong not to have an English menu. I also didn't realize that this was a Sichuan Chinese place. Anyone who has had Sichuan food, especially you Yulong, is laughing at me right now. Needless to say, everything we ordered was holy crap, I need a glass of milk and a tissue for my runny nose  hot. Ha! Sichuan food is delicious, but if you don't know what you're getting yourself into, you could leave without any functioning taste buds. Strike two against tour guide Mo. Thanks Ryan and Alecia for being such good sports. 

After lunch, we walked along the Avenue of Stars. This is like a boardwalk with plaques and statues of the famous Hong Kong movie stars. We recognized Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li, that was about all. But, the view of the harbor from there was gorgeous, and made it well worth battling the mainland Chinese tourists. The old fashioned boat is called the Aqualuna, and it sails around the harbor every night. You can charter it for private events, but I think it's pretty pricey. 

As far as tour guiding goes, I'd say I did pretty well during the day showing them around, minus the super spicy lunch. However, my skills were not up to par for the evening festivities. We took a taxi to the Peak, which is a must see destination for people visiting the city. There is a loop walk that takes you out to a wonderful view of the city. One side of the loop is like a 10 min walk to the view. The other side of the loop is like a 40 min walk. Guess which side I took us on. Oops. Of course, Ryan and Alecia are super jet lagged at this point, so this was not helping our cause. Strike 3 tour guide Mo. Again, thanks Ryan and Alecia for being good sports.

The rest of my failures resulted in me not having a plan B. As a tour guide, you must always have a plan B. After the walk, I was planning on us jumping in another cab and going down to Soho, an area in the city with lots of good restaurants. However, when we get to the taxi stand, the line is literally an hour long wait. What! How did that happen? It's a Monday night! Screw it, we are eating in the Peak Mall. We walk into the mall and wander around for 15 min, until we realize that everything is closed. Everything. Turns out the mall closes at 9, which explains the massive queue for the taxi. Grr.... Everything in Hong Kong stays open til the crack of dawn except for the Peak Mall. We finally found the only open restaurant in the whole place just outside of the mall. We sit down and order. Ryan, unfortunately orders a Chinese dish that is drenched in fish sauce. Fish sauce is a foul smelling substance that is used in almost every Asian dish. If its cooked down well, it is delicious. But, Ryan's seemed to have been dumped on at the last minute, resulting in a very stinky, fishy dish. I think Ryan had had enough of fish sauce after that. Strike 4 tour guide Mo. So ends Day 1 of the cousin trip.