christmas morning sunrise

Bali is freakin amazing. My phone, as it turns out, seems not to work here, but that's pretty much the only bad news. We got in Tues night and were driven to our palatial and out of control hotel, where we were greeted by about four traditionally dressed Balinese men, welcoming us. I can't believe we're staying here. We can see the ocean from our balcony, but more to the point, we can hear it from our beds. We fell asleep Tues night to the sound of waves crashing on the shore and palm trees swaying. Seriously.

The sunrise woke me Wed morning, and Leda said that I was like a kid on Christmas morning when I woke her to check it out with me from our balcony. I think it was the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen. Leda had arranged for a private yoga class for the two of us Wed morning, which, as it happened, was held right on the beach. Sun salutations facing the ocean: good stuff. We hung out by the pool after that and on our balcony, then had Balinese massages Wed afternoon (there's a full-on spa on the grounds of the hotel). We headed to Seminyak to watch the sunset at a place called Ku De Ta, which is a swank, Miami-Beach-ish bar/restaurant right on the ocean, but as it happened sunset occurred while we were still in our taxi. No matter. Ku De Ta was fun, and afterward we walked on the beach in the dark to our dinner spot, The Living Room, which was a bit north. We had a great dinner at The Living Room, then headed back to the hotel, crashed early.

Today was another activity-heavy day. We had a 2-hour Javanese lulur massage (massage, lulur soak & exfoliation, outdoor shower, bath of flowers, ginger tea on a big bed), then sat on the beach and by the pool, ordering food and drinks, reading and marveling in the fact that we had absolutely no schedule. We are on vacation for sure. Tonight we'll head to Kuta and Seminyak for dinner and hopefully music of some kind, and tomorrow we'll start acting like sightseeing tourists, checking out some temples and doing maybe a little local shopping (must take care of nieces & nephew!). We'll be in Nusa Dua until Sunday, at which point we'll head to Ubud for the last few days of our stay.

The people are amazingly warm and friendly here (er at least at the hotel), and we've learned a few Indonesian phrases. They have multiple ways to say "good afternoon", all depending on the time of day. Right now it's evening, so the phrase is "Semalat malam". I've taken some great pictures, but no dice on flickr, so I'll have to upload either from the next hotel or when I get back to Leda's next week.

Miss everyone but wowowowow Bali.