 |
| While shopping at the Carrefour market, I couldn’t resist stopping to admire these colorful Dragon Fruit. |
“Sightings on the Beach in Bali”
 |
| In yesterday’s post, we shared a photo of two buffalos wandering by during dinner and here are four buffalos on a hike from the river. |
Upon returning to the immigration office for the second time in one day, again we took a number and waited our turn. We’d arrived about five minutes prior to the end of lunchtime at 1:00 pm hoping to have a short wait.
Alas, “island time” prevails as the various officers mulled around behind the service desk until they close to 1:30 pm, although the posted sign clearly stated they’d be open for business at 1:00 pm. Again, we waited patiently with nary a comment about the time. The next number up was 025. Our number was 027. Certainly, we wouldn’t have to wait too long.
 |
| A room was offered for rent at this property for IDR $150,000, US $10.97! |
And again this morning, we’re heading back to Lovina for Trip 2 (two hours each way) for fingerprinting and photos. We’re not looking forward to the four or more hours on the same road.
If time allows, we’ll stop for a few photos after we’re done at the immigration office. Again, we’ll wear long pants as required to enter government buildings bringing shorts along for any sightseeing stops we may make on the return drive.
 |
| As we drove past this decorative wall, I asked Gede to stop for a close-up photo as shown below. |
On Monday, after the second visit to the immigration office, we stopped at the largest supermarket in Lovina. For the first time since our arrival in Bali, we found a few grocery items we hadn’t been able to locate during other outings. These included a ball of gouda cheese, cheddar cheese, and two little bottles of baking soda.
We’d hoped to find baking soda, an important ingredient in making homemade toothpaste since last night we’d run out of the organic nonfluoride toothpaste we’d purchased at the health food store in NZ.
 |
| So beautiful. |
We’d already used the entire batch we’d made while in NZ. When we ran out of baking soda shortly before we left we purchased the organic toothpaste as a backup from the store. Unless kept cold, the toothpaste is runny and could make quite a mess in our luggage thus, it doesn’t travel well.
 |
| We’d never seen a flowers-only farmer’s market. Flowers are commonly used as offerings to the Hindu temples and at many of the resorts and villas. |
Yesterday afternoon, I made the new batch of toothpaste, enough to last during our remaining weeks in Bali. Here’s the link with ingredients, photos, and instructions for making the toothpaste if you’re so inclined.
 |
| Simply lovely. I could smell them from across the street where I stood taking these few photos. |
On Monday, we didn’t return to the villa until 5 pm. Gede stopped at a few worthwhile points of interest which greatly attributed to the 100 photos we took that day. Also, he asked if we could stop so he could eat his lunch.
Goofy us! We may not eat breakfast or lunch but most people do. We encouraged him to stop anywhere he’d like for as long as he’d like. As it turned out, he stopped at the beach where we were able to get out, walk and take photos, one of the highlights of the day.
When we entered the villa, two Ketuts were busy in the kitchen preparing dinner. By 5:45 we were seated at the big table for eight, facing the sea, both of us starving after the busy day with lots of walking and riding in the car.
 |
| We stopped at the curb on the outskirts of the village so I could take a photo of the flower market. Instantly, we were approached by a “traffic cop” asking for money for parking and two others asking for money, unrelated to the traffic. |
Today, providing we’re done with time to spare before “rush hour” in Lovina we’ll make several stops hoping to see a few sights that Gede had suggested and particularly appeal to us.
 |
| We crossed a modern bridge in Lovina. Many bridges and overpasses are marked by Hindu statues although this newer bridge was not. |
Again, our goal is to return to the villa around 5:00 pm so the “girls” (as they’re so-called by other staff) can get home to their families at a reasonable time. Most tourists dine at 6:00 pm but we’ve chosen to dine at 5:00 pm to allow them to be done with the cooking and cleanup and out the door by 6:00.
Tomorrow, we’ll be back with the update on today’s Trip 2 journey to immigration in Lovina, and we’ll see how plans for Trip 3 rollout for Friday.
We hope our US friends/readers have safe and meaningful plans for the upcoming long Memorial Day weekend. And also, safety and well-being for all of our friends/readers worldwide.
Photo from one year ago today, May 24, 2015:
 |
| When we were back in Honolulu, we took the Ala Moana bus to the mall to purchase a pair of white jeans for me. Before dark, we arrived at our favorite restaurant in Honolulu, Cheeseburger in Paradise, for another great meal; burger, fries, and onion rings for Tom and fabulous Cobb Salad for me. For more details from that enjoyable day before we sailed on the cruise to Australia, please click here. |