The Weekends

The last few weeks we experienced a bit what our ‘normal’ Balinese weeks are looking like. Iris going to Ubud for 3 days a week and I’m working at the hotel from Monday till Friday. So the weekends are the most existing times and they are great ☺

1t/m4 October, Lovina
Because I arranged an early shift for Friday and a late shift for Monday, we could go away for a long weekend and had planned a trip to Lovina. Together on 1 scooter with a big bag we set of for Lovina around 4.30pm and expected the drive to be around 2-2½hours. Only after a half an hour we got a flat tire, luckily we were at a spot where immediately a Balinese could help us directly and after 20-30min. we where back on the road (cost only Rp10.000, less than €1). Another half hour later it started raining like crazy, so it was raincoats on and driving slowly. When the rain finally stopped it started to get dark and we did not inspect the route properly because we where heading towards the mountains. With half wet clothes it was very cold and it was very dark in the mountains. From what we had heard later it was not so smart of us to drive in the mountains while it is dark as a tourist and not knowing the road, because if you have a flat tire up there there’s nobody to help and there can be a unsafe area in the dark with animals and sometimes aggressive citizens against tourist.

After more than 3 hours we finally arrived in Lovina and had a nice beer in the small town. We booked hotel Angsoka (http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g297699-d1220837-r82983748-Angsoka_Hotel-Singaraja_Bali.html#CHECK_RATES_CONT see here our review on TripAdvisor) for only Rp125.000 a night (around €10). It was a basic hotel with a lovely pool. The weekend was supposed to be a super relaxed one and it was. We got to know some nice people and went out to diner with them twice. Furthermore we chilled and we chilled some more. On the way back we visited the temple Danau Bratan, which is one of the most photographed temples of Bali. http://picasaweb.google.com/fromeynfotos6/Lovina13Okt?authkey=Gv1sRgCOjG7qqNxsKjkgE#

8-10 October
This weekend we stayed in Seminyak, tried our surfboard witch we just had bought and chilled a lot at the beach. We had some nice lunches and diners in the area and we had our first evening walk at the beach (Iris feet is finally on the better hand). I relist my head from my already too long hair and that felt great.

15-17 October (Sanur)
This weekend, on Sunday, we had to move to the villa and say goodbye to, what we already feel is our house. We could not go away for the whole weekend, so we went to Sanur witch is only a half an hour drive. The beaches in Sanur are great and the water is slow and clear compared to the big breaks in Seminyak. We had a very relaxing day and rented sunbeds at the beach from a hotel so we could also use their swimming pool ☺. In the morning we had booked a restaurant, because of their good reviews on TripAdvisor. We wanted to try a somewhat ‘chique’ restaurant for reasonable prices and this was the first ranked for Sanur. The restaurant was totally worth is, we both loved the food, the setting, the staff and the atmosphere (http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g297700-d1443303-r84165160-Kayu_Manis-Sanur_Bali.html our review on TripAdvisor). For less than €15 p.p. we eat at what we think was a almost star levelled restaurant.

22-24 October
This weekend we stayed at home as well. We wanted to see more of the area around the villa were we now live and we where also invited to go to a wedding of a colleague of mine. The Saturday started not good with bad weather, but in the afternoon we went to the beach anyway and stayed at a lovely Warung, with sunbeds and cheap food and drinks. In the late afternoon we headed back home to make ourselves ready for the wedding. We where doubting to go to the wedding, because I hardly knew this colleague but my other colleagues luckily convinced us. Unfortunately the weather was very bad at the wedding and it was raining a lot and hard. It was a Christian wedding with typical Balinese traditions and goood food, we had a nice time, especially with my colleagues. The wedding couple was dressed up very beautifully and so where their parents and a lot of other guests (mostly family). This wedding was nothing like we know in Norway/The Netherlands, but also for my colleagues this was an uncommon wedding, because there are hardly any Christians on Bali. The wedding couple was sitting on a kind of podium together with their parents and there where performances of family members. The rest was sitting in front of the podium and could enjoy the food and entertainment. We soon of course hope to experience a ‘real’ Balinese Hindu wedding.