And now, the end is near…..

....and so all the visits were already gone and before we knew it we have 2 weeks left on our little paradise island! We have had a (for what we were used to) busy couple of months with almost constantly friends staying in our house and in the middle of it Rino had to finish his thesis. We had a lot of fun with everyone, have seen and done new things in Bali and seen a lot for the 2nd and 3rd time, which was more than worth it every time! Amazingly we don’t get tired of beautiful rice paddies, Bali jungle and cruising around on the scooter. Because of the seasons of the rice fields it looks different every time and every stage of it is stunning again in different ways. The fields just filled with water, the newly planted baby rice, farmers standing to their knees in the mud planting the rice, the growing green rice, the yellowish rice ready for harvest, the harvest with all the farmers together in the fields and then the fields right after harvest. It all makes the landscape look different and it all has its new beauty!


Pictures of the stages of rice farming :-)

The last visit was from Anneloes and Marloes. There was a lot of partying, scootering and enjoying all aspects of Bali together, beach by day, beach by night, snorkeling, trekking and experiencing the culture.

Weekend trip
In the weekend we went together exploring parts of Bali. We did Ubud and surroundings, went by scooter through beautiful central Bali to the east, where we did a 4 hour trekking route in Tirta Gangga. Seeing the fantastic rice fields, some viewpoints and a perfect route to see some of the real Bali and how people live, outside the tourist areas. Sunday after Tirta Ganga Rino went home to work on Monday. We three girls went further east to Amed to snorkel. We found a bungalow on the beach for a really good price including dinner and breakfast. Snorkeling right out of the beach, Amed is simply fantastic, now in the dry season the water also was incredibly clear. Monday we took the fantastic route to Ujung along the coast and slowly back home again. On the way we stopped for lunch at the beautiful place Kebun Impian , where Rino and I stayed once before. We also stopped on White sand beach for a swim before heading back to Seminyak.



Spa & fun
The girls and I didn’t meet since our unbelievable experience with our thesis last year, winning two money prices. We wanted to spoil ourselves one day and we sure did. I’m spoiled every single day here of course, I am well aware of that. But the girls are hard working nurses and could really use a treat like this. 3 hours spa: body massage, facial and pedicure & foot massage. Ever going to Bali? Take a lot of spa treatments, it is SO cheap! After the spa we walked to Cocoon, a luxury looking club/restaurant down at the beach, with a swimming pool, big comfy beds and gooooood (read: expensive) food and drinks. The beds are free if you have food and drinks, so its not too bad, but you feel like a spoiled rich kid, but hey we actually were this day ;-)
We ended this fantastic day with the best party in Bali: the beach party at La Plancha, which we enjoy every three weeks. And it was a success as usual, as much fun as it could possibly be! :-)
Siv Hege, our friend from Norway stopped by Bali for a couple of days on her 12 months around the world trip. She timed it perfect and could join us for the beach party. Check out her travel blog (its Norwegian) on siviwonder.com.



Friends & fun
We have been partying more than usual the last weeks, because of visits of the party girls Sarah, Marloes and Anneloes ;-) It has been a lot of fun and we have been getting to know more people because of getting out more. Our new favourite, despite that we don’t like Kuta, is Cow bar. Its not so much the bar, but because of Chalie, a friend playing there on Wednesdays with our new friend Roger. And because of the girls, Ella and Yeni, who work there. Within 10 minutes the first time we came there we noticed that these girls are too much fun. Such sweet, genuine and funny Balinese girls, we are so happy to have the pleasure to have met you Asbak & Rekening! ;-)

One more thing: you all should check out Nok La Fiesta, a Thai girl we met here. She is a huge talent with her guitar, rhythm and voice! She travels around playing and saving money to someday be able to go to South America and play her music. We just love her. Check her out on youtube and facebook :-)