A culture shock....

Well we knew it had to end, and on Friday our little band of travellers said goodbye and headed off in different directions, Gloria back to San Jose, Samir to the Gilli Islands, and the rest were dropped off at Denpasar Airport, before the bus driver took me to Nusa Dua. We have been a small band of travellers and have bonded quite well as a result, laughing at the accommodation, the visits from Colin the cockroach, bed bugs, Mosquitos and any other bugs that came our way, we have swapped stories and medication when required, we have cared for those feeling ill or vumetae and we have laughed, a lot! Who knew that a camera man, retired American teacher, civil engineer, television director, landscaped gardener, council worker and drug addict rehabilitation worker, ranging in ages from 38 to 65, would have so much to say to each other! So it was really quite emotional saying goodbye. And I have to admit to feeling quite lost, especially when I arrived at my hotel.

After staying in very small hotels, some with just enough rooms for us, I arrived at Melia Bali, a 484 room international hotel complex full of tourists, 4 restaurants, spa, pool, private beach.......

There is a tv and a hair dryer! To be honest I was a bit dazed and spent the first hour wandering around trying to work out what to do with myself!

I bought an outrageous expensive magazine and parked myself at the beach bar with a beer, and wifi (!), and chilled whilst watching the sun go down!

One of my luxury items to bring with me had been a full on proper book, all 909 pages. I know I can download them to my iPad, but I am old school! You can't read your iPad in the pool! So today has been tropical fruit for breakfast, and then reading and snoozing by the pool. A quick FaceTime from my sun lounger with Thomas and Simon, and then Zoe, my friend from work arrived for the next two nights. So not sure how much I will blog for the next few days as I suspect I will spend most of it chilling!!!!!!

Today has been a day of reading and snoozing by the beach. One of the bar staff suggested organising one of his friends to pick us up and take us to a beach restaurant in Jimbanan. We were a bit dubious but there was a little man with a taxi and 20 minutes later we were sat on a beach being offered a veritable seafood feast (of snapper, crab, prawns, squid and moules)!

As it got dark we had a fabulous view of the Southern Hemisphere solar system, fireworks, Chinese lanterns and the planes taking off from Denpasar airport. We were even serenaded by a local band! 

Listening to an Indonesian version of Louis Armstrong, then Westlife!!!!