Singapore: Day 13

I don't really remember a whole lot about Day 13 of our trip. And I didn't take many pictures to jog my memory. I did go for a run in the morning while he slept. The guys schedule on the boat is much different from a normal work schedule. They normally wake up at 10 am-ish, work out, have lunch and then start work and work until 9 or 10 or 12 or later depending on the flight schedule. Because of their crazy schedule, our first few days together always consist of me waking Glenn up super early cause I'm so excited to be together.

After some coffee, breakfast and lounging in our room, we finally emerged to find some lunch and do some shopping. Glenn needed some stuff for the boat and I was excited to look at shoes! My too-big-for-Japanese-shoes feet were in need of some cute sandals.

We stopped at the Little Indian hawker center first for some lunch-

And then continued on to Orchard Road for shopping. Unfortunately, I never found the perfect grey slightly embellished sandals I had pictured in my head, but Glenn found some fun clothes.

We headed back to the hotel in the late afternoon to relax and then we met up with Mike and Toni, some squadron friends, for some dinner at Highlander. The restaurant was a Scottish/scotch/whiskey type restaurant. My lover had the lamb shanks (SNL, anyone?) and I had something else. I forget.

A wonderful dinner though. We continued on to Archipelago brewery for more drinking. A theme of any port call: food, beer/drinking, sex, repeat. (Sorry, mom :) )

The port calls always go by so quickly. We spent very little time of this trip "sightseeing" since we were just there in April and just enjoyed our time. I felt very little pressure to see and do everything in Singapore this time. I didn't care where I was as long as I was with Glenn.

Wordless Wednesday: A Balinese Bumper Sticker

Singapore: Day 12

We woke up stupid early to head to the airport. It was early, but our nerves were getting to us because we were so excited to see our hubbies! In Singapore, the ship pulls on to a Singapore base so the wives are not able to access the pier. Because of this, Glenn and I agreed to meet at the hotel. Krystal and I landed around 9:30, made a stop at the grocery store (for mixers for our Duty Free purchases) and caught a taxi to our hotels. We were there by noon, waiting and waiting.

I finally went down to the lobby to check my email and to send Glenn around 2 pm to see what was taking so long. Of course, he walks in to the lobby right then! So wonderful to see him! I hadn't seen Glenn for about 5 or 6 weeks since he was home for the 4th of July.

We hung out for awhile and then got lunch at one of our favorite restaurants on Arab Street. We had found it last time we were there in April. Just as delicious as last time.

There wasn't too much time for relaxing because we had some mando-fun scheduled at Brewerkz Brewery in Clarke Quay for a Hail & Farewell. Isn't he cute? I miss that face.

Farewell Jameson and Mike! Hello to Corn!

The evening only got more ridiculous after that even though the $400 tab only last about 20 minutes. That's Singapore for you!

I also got the pleasure of meeting Fun Bobby, XO's alterdrinking ego. We made the mistake of following him to a new bar- bad idea Fun Bobby!

Two belts do not equal more fun. But luckily, we went to the Fullerton Bar with Jimmy and Mai and got more mojitos- yum! Then Glenn decided which of our cars he should drive home-

He wishes! An evening of friends, fun and drinking with my mister. So wonderful to be together again!

Date Night

Glenn and I had a "date" tonight. Miss you, mister.

Bali: Day 11

Day 11 of our trip was our last full day in Bali. There was a theme of our trip in Kuta if you didn't notice- beach and pool. We started our morning with a long two-hour walk along the beach, exploring the town next to Kuta, Legian. Legian is much quieter that Kuta. We wandered through some streets, got a little lost, emailed our hubbies and still made it back for breakfast.

After breakfast, we laid out by the hotel pool and read our books. So relaxing. So wonderful. Krystal decided she wanted to buy a dress she had seen a previous day so she went out in town and I went back to the room and relaxed and cleaned up.

For the evening, we were headed to Nusa Dua, a town about a 20 minute drive from Kuta. Some other girls from Atsugi base were staying at the Westin and had arrived a few days earlier. We met up with Kari, Alyssa and Tori for dinner and a Balinese dance show at the Westin. A perfect ending to our trip!

We got to Nusa Dua around 5 and the dinner show didn't start until 7 pm so we headed to a near by shopping area first. I stocked up on a few souvenirs for my English students although Krystal and I noticed that in this "nicer" part of the island, every souvenir we saw was priced much higher than in the markets we had been too. Even though the items were all the same!

We were able to catch a Kecak show. Here is a blurb from Wikipedia to describe this type of dancing:

Kecak (pronounced [ˈketʃak], alternate spellings: Ketjak and Ketjack) is a form of Balinese music drama, originated in the 1930s and is performed primarily by men, although a few women's kecak groups exist as of 2006. ^[1]
Also known as the Ramayana Monkey Chant, the piece, performed by a circle of 100 or more performers wearing checked cloth around their waists, percussively chanting "cak" and throwing up their arms, depicts a battle from the Ramayana where the monkey-like Vanara helped Prince RamaRavana. However, Kecak has roots in sanghyang, a trance-inducing exorcism fight the evil King dance.

There was a sheet on our table that described the story that ws taking place between the demon king and the monkey army. We were confused for a bit, but enjoyed it all the same.

While we watched the show we enjoyed a huge buffet of all sorts of yummy Balinese food!

 After dinner, we headed back to our hotel because we had to get up very early to catch our 6:55 am flight to Singapore!

Manila

I've been able to Skype with Glenn over the last couple days while the ship is in port. They are in Manila, Phillipines for a few days. I miss you baby!

Here are a few pictures I stole from the USS George Washington's facebook page:

USS George Washington (CVN 73) enters Manila bay, Philippines beginning a four day scheduled port visit. George Washington, the Navy’s only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier, is currently visiting the port of Manila, Philippines to promote peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, demonstrating commitment to regional partners and foster growing relationships. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Adam K. Thomas/Released)

Bali: Day 10

We were approaching the end of island beach vacation and had only spent 1 day on the beach so far! Our second to last day in Kuta was dedicated to enjoying the beach and surf. We started the day with a barefoot run on the beach which is much more difficult than I thought it would be. We returned to the hotel, had breakfast and changed in to our suits. After a quick stop at the internet cafe and a quest to find a sun hat, we hit the sand.

The waves on Kuta beach were huge and many people were surfing. We saw the lifeguards have to rescue one girl that got pulled out too far by the current. The undertow was strong so Krystal and I stayed near the shore. It was fun to watch all of the tourists attempt to surf though.

After an afternoon at the beach, we walked back to the hotel and cooled off in the hotel pool and then took at nap. We had decided to actually get cleaned up and go out to dinner tonight. Most nights of our vacation we would eat lunch around 2 or 3 and then never really have a dinner.

We went to a great Italian restaurant near the beach that was a Dine/Lounge restaurant. They had swimming pools along side the tables and our table was more like a bed.

It was a very relaxing place and Krystal and I decided to splurge and have a nice "expensive" dinner. My tuna steak was ~$13. I love Bali.

Only one day left in Bali and one more day til I got to see Glenn!

Bali: Day 9

The ninth day of our trip was another travel day, we were leaving Lombok and needed to return to Bali. Our last stop of the trip was the city of Kuta. We were staying there for 3 nights. Kuta is on the south coast of Bali and is famous for its surf.

Our morning started early with a pick up from a taxi. We were headed back to the harbor for what seemed like the hundredth time. This time we had a meter and didn't have to argue, so nice! We waited around for awhile for the boat to come and when it did, we were very happy. This boat had walls and windows and we wouldn't get soaking wet like last time. The ride was still rough but at least I was dry when we got there.

After we were back in Bali, we loaded up in a bus with the other travelers going to Kuta and started on the two hour bus ride. We found our hotel after driving in what seemed like circles after dropping off the other passengers. It gave us the chance to check out the area though and see where we wanted to go that afternoon. Our hotel, the Ida Hotel, was tucked behind a mall and some store, but was very cute once we found it.

It was in a great location too. We could walk to almost anywhere we wanted to go- including Coldstone Creamery!

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping and exploring Kuta. We even found some Mexican food for lunch! Still not as good as American-style Mexican food, but I'll take it!

We walked and walked, shopped, emailed our husbands and relaxed. Along our shopping route we also saw the memorial for the 2002 terrorist bombings.

I felt safe in Bali, but if people asked "Are you Canadian?" we usually replied "Yes". If they asked "what do you do?" or "how did you two meet?" We would answer that we were English teachers and we work together. No need to draw attention to ourselves any more than our appearance already did.

I think we were in bed by 9:30 pm on our first night in Kuta. I love vacation.

Lombok & Gili: Day 9

Krystal and I spent our last day in Lombok actually not on Lombok. We returned to the Gili islands where we went scuba diving. Since the beaches on the Gilis were much nicer, we thought we'd spend the day laying out. We went to Gili Trawangan, the largest of the three islands. Although it's still not very large.

We rented bikes for a few dollars, but quickly realized that there wasn't far to go. We rode them around to the end of the island, took a few pictures and then found a location to veg for the day. The Horizontal Lounge sounded like the perfect place. Beach chairs, drinks, food, we were sold.

We didn't move far from these chairs most of the day except to cool off or snorkel in the water. You can see how close Gili Meno is in this picture.

There are no cars or scooters on the Gilis. Only bicycles and horse drawn carriages. There isn't even fresh water on the island. Most of the hotels had signed to "brag" if they had fresh water showers.  Salt water shower? No thanks.

To get to the island in the morning, we had asked our scuba guys from the day before to drop us off before their group dive that day. For about $8 each, they agreed. We got picked up at our hotel and dropped on the beach. Worked for us.

On the way home, we went back to the same beach to see if there were any boats going back. Luckily there was a boat leaving for Lombok right then for only $1 each! Once we were on the boat, we realized why it was only a dollar.

It may not be PC, but Krystal and I joked that we were immigrating to the U.S. We were crammed on a tiny boat with a bunch of other people. There was 4 inches of water in the bottom of the boat and the driver in the back was praying and tossing offerings in to the water. What are we on now? Time number 5 we thought we might die? Luckily, no problems and we made it to the Lombok harbor safe and sound.

The harbor was swarming with taxi drivers and less-than-reputable people attempting to swindle tourists in to paying too much for a ride to their hotel. An extra pushy taxi driver walked right up to Krystal and I and the conversation went something like this:

"Need ride? Where you go?"
"Sengiggi. Jayakarta Hotel"
"Oooo, that far. 150 each" (~$15/per person"
"Ha! That's too expensive!"
"Ok ok, good price, how much?"
"We'll pay you 50 for both."
"You funny. Ok, 100 each."
"No. Too much."

We walk away.

He follows behind.

We find a guy who we thought was a taxi driver, but turns out to be a government or city employee (says his car) that offers to drive us to our hotel for free, but our pushy annoying taxi driver convinces him that we should pay 50,000 rupiah (~$5). Fine, we agree. Then the pushy driver says that he should get the money since he found us the taxi! And he wants it up front, for doing nothing. We argue, Krystal yells. We threaten to get out of the car. Finally, the new driver pays the obnoxious driver $2 to leave us alone knowing that we will pay him $5 and he would have done it for free! We're still not sure we are going to make it to the hotel, but he does as promised and we pay him as promised plus some.

Throughout our whole trip, I felt safe. I never felt that I was going to get robbed or worse. The only problems we ever had were with money. Anyone and everyone would try to swindle you out of a few bucks. It got frustrating at the end, but I guess I'm my mother's child, why pay $10 when you can pay $5?

We made it back to our hotel just in time for sunset. We grabbed our bottle of Arak, sprite, some TimTams and a beach towel and headed to the beach in front of our hotel.

Who needs entertainment when you have sunsets like these?

Lombok: Day 8

Our second day in Lombok was also one of my favorite days cause we decided to go scuba diving. Krystal is also certified so it worked out perfectly to be traveling companions. We did two dives this day. The first one was called the Meno Slope. We were diving off of the Gili Islands specifically Gili Meno.

Our first dive was a drift dive meaning that the boat would drop us off at one spot, we would follow the current and they would pick us up at a different location. I've done drift dives in Guam, but nothing like this. The current was strong and fast! I joked that I felt like the turtles in Finding Nemo. Once you were in the current, there was no going back. This was scuba diving in fast forward. If you missed something, you weren't going to see it again cause the current just pushed you along. Because of this though and the lack of effort you have to exert while swimming, our dive was just over 50 minutes which is pretty long for a beginner diver like myself at about 20 meters.

The turtle we saw was over a meter across!

After our first dive, we stopped for lunch on Gili Meno and rested for a bit before our second dive. Usually you have to wait a couple hours between dives to let the nitrogen out of your blood naturally.

Our second dive was a slower current and there were more rock formations with smaller fish. We did see a HUGE moray eel though!

An amazing day! I absolutely love diving and wish I could do it more often! I'm excited for future trips when Glenn and I can go together!