Getting to the Balimoon is Half the Battle

Sankat enjoying a Sail

After a tear-full goodbye I sent Lindsey off in a cab towards the airport and I headed to Sanur to meet up with Sankat.  We had booked a sweet little boutique hotel close to the beach and I was hoping it would turn out better than my latest lodging debacles.  I grabbed a cab and headed off after much discussion about price (he wanted $15, I wanted him to run the meter) we settled on the meter and off we went.  20 minutes later he dropped off on the side of the highway in front of a highrise with a similar name as my hotel.   I knew from the internet pictures (which at times can be deceiving but not this deceiving) that we were not at the right place.  I walked in and the door guy looked at me like I was crazy, it was basically as if a dirty backpacker walked into a highrise in Chicago and asked the door guy for a room J.  We bantered back and forth me in English and him in Balinese and it was clear that I was not in the right place and we couldn’t communicate with each other.  Luckily there was a coffee shop next door that I wandered into where business people were having lunch, getting the same dirty backpacker look I asked for WiFi and a menu.  The server informed me that I would have to pay for WiFi and food to stay there I convinced her that I would and $7 later I had a latte, chocolate cake and internet.  I realized that the cab had taken me to a place about a half a mile from my hotel (easy I can totally walk there).  I finished up my goods and waited out almost all my internet time, didn’t want to waste any money, and headed off down the road.  About four minutes into walking down the side of the highway listening to cars honking and praying that no one would come onto the side of the road and hit me I flagged down a cab.  I had the usual banter of meter vs $10 settled on meter and off we went.  I was able to maintain internet signal and quickly realized this guy didn’t know where he was going, but through the miracle of  google maps and my demands we pulled up outside of the hotel resembling the one I booked on the internet.  Hooray they had my booking the room was amazing and I settled in next to the pool to wait for Sankat.  The hostess even brought me fresh sorbet while I lounged HEAVEN!!!!

Watching the Sunset

I had a glass of wine waited for Sankat and he arrived  So awesome to see him after 5 weeks of us traveling, we stayed up late exchanging stories about Singapore, London, Malaysia and Indonesia.    We spent the next four days living it up in Bali, snorkeling, catamaran cruises to other islands, lounging on the beach and eating brick oven pizza at the Italian ex pat;s place. 

Now we are headed off for one night in Bangkok.