What Comfort Zone: Bali ~ Day 4

Day 4:

We decided to make day 4 a relaxing day! We hired the taxi driver again for the day. Since we weren't traveling as far, he charged us only about $35 for the day! - We had an interesting start to the day. A guy drove up in the same taxi that we had been in the day before, however it wasn't our same driver. He came up to us in the lobby and asked if Tim was "Tim", then handed him the phone. Our driver from the day before talked to Tim for a few minutes informing him that he had been admitted into the hospital, and had asked his friend to drive us around. I was a little uneasy about it, but it didn't bother Tim so we went on...

We started out around 11:30 and headed to a small, less populated beach, Padong Padong Beach. - The beach was located down a lot of stairs, as soon as I saw it I knew I would regret having to go back up. Anyways, we headed down to the beach, which was in a very small cove. It was extremely small. There were maybe 20 people there total, and nowhere to sit, the tide was so high. We stayed for just a little bit taking pictures and trying to decide what to do. (Remember to see the pictures enlarged, just click on them)

We decided to leave Padong Padong, and head to a beach that was known to be a little more touristy; which we figured could be a good thing. So we went to Dreamland Beach. When we arrived we walked around a board walk to get to the actual beach. Here, the tide was too high to sit on the beach as well, however there was a restaurant up on the boardwalk that overlooked the ocean. So, we settled there for an hour or so, waiting on the tide to go out. It was such a beautiful view with a nice breeze. We sat at a table, under an umbrella reading and staying hydrated.... Now this is more what we were hoping for in regards to a relaxing day. After a while the tide went out, and locals set up some beach chairs and umbrellas, and more and more tourists arrived. Tim and I decided to go down to the beach get some chairs, and just relax. Well, I relaxed and took pictures, as Tim went surfing. The waves at Dreamland were much larger than at Kuta a few days before. Tim got swept up a few times, but really enjoyed himself, as you can see....

Sitting at the restaurant waiting on the tide to go out.

big waves!!!

"I'm okay"

tide continuing to go out

People would walk up and over this hill to get to another beach (or so we assumed)

riding the wave in

Around 5:00 we paid about $1 to use some public showers and change into nicer clothes. Then we headed to Utuwalu Temple for the sunset. The temple is on the southwest tip of Bali and sits on a cliff hanging over the ocean. At the temple, they put on a Balinese fire dance show during the sunset. We thought it would be a great way to watch the sunset! The show was sort of interesting, but I think both Tim and I would have enjoyed the sunset just as much, walking around the Temple and looking over the cliff. Oh well. We still had a great time, and took millions of pictures.

Once the show was over, we were off to our last stop... Dinner in Jimbaran; just another local beach. We had no idea what we were in store for, the driver told us he had a restaurant he wanted to take us to. So, why not, he's a local and knows better than us! He took us to a seafood restaurant that sits right on the beach. We sat at a table on the sand, and Tim even got to pick out exactly which fish, lobster, and shrimp he wanted to eat... I don't eat seafood, so I was out of luck; which I didn't mind. I told Tim I would just get something once we went back to the hotel, but that he deserved a large seafood meal! -- Well, it's a good thing I married such an amazing guy. After he picked out his fish, and we went back to our table, he told me he would be right back.... and when he did, he told me he had asked if they could cook me up some chicken! YAY!! Tim is so great :). So he had his 3 plates full of fish, as I ate chicken skewers drenched in a Balinese peanut sauce. mmmm. -- Sadly it was too dark to get some good pictures, but here is what we were able to get...