Nusa Lembongan Girls Trip

For all the disappointments and setbacks that Covid has given us, we've had some pretty great opportunities as well.  After our trip to Villa Sayang on Nusa Lembongan, Farrah and her family made plans for international friends to come visit and they booked it for December 2021.  Cue Omicron and a 10-day quarantine, and their friends had to cancel their trip (disappointing).  No refunds, so several of us local ladies were all good friends and chipped in to take advantage of two nights already paid there (opportunity!).  That's what friends are for!

We flew out early on a Sunday morning to enjoy a day in Bali.  Katrice, Julie, Jenny...

me, Farrah, Alice

Ready to have a great time on the island of the gods!

We booked one night in Sanur and arrived just in time for afternoon brunch by the sea.  It was so lovely and relaxing.

After some massages and naps, we went back out to the beach to take in the sunset (sadly, not much on the east side of the island) and enjoy live music.  It was an early night because we all wanted to be up early in the morning for the sunrise and an ANZAC day memorial.

For a few weeks during the year, the sun rises behind Mt. Rinjani on Lombok.  I was so hopeful to see it but the rain clouds had a different plan. Thankfully the rain lasted about an hour and cleared out for the rest of the trip.

We booked the early ferry over to Nusa Lembongan to make the most of our day there.  Who ordered the washing machine?

Brian wasn't with us, but somehow we were all still Mrs. Brian McCulloughs!

You can call us anything you want, as long as you're taking me the fastest way to paradise! Villa Sayang picked us up in the boat and we were back home in no time. It was fun seeing the same staff again.

We had a few minutes to sit and relax and make some decisions about meals and activities while our rooms were being prepared. It was a perfect break before we started all of our fun.  Plan first, then enjoy!

Turtle boy was still happy and significantly bigger than last year!

The view was just as spectacular as we remembered! We spent lots of time in the pool...

...and in the massage room!

So many laughs with these absolutely amazing friends!

Even the creepy tokay popped out to say hello in the exact same spot!

On Tuesday morning, we hired the amazing Super Go to tour around the island. Even better this time, we hired Ricky Raja to drive us! That left me free to be the DJ and play Vengabus ad nauseum.

Ricky was showing off for all the ladies!

We were shamelessly touristy and took our pictures at all the fun spots.

We got home late in the afternoon and enjoyed another incredible sunset and dinner in our villa.  Why go out when this is your own view?

We didn't have to leave until 3pm on Wednesday, so we still had the morning to have fun.  Several people went on the banana boat...

...and several of us took out paddle boards.  A big swell had come in so there wasn't much standing up.

Farrah did want proof that she stood up on her board.  Let's just say it didn't last all that long.

We finally showered and packed and walked down to the beach one last time for a boat ride back to the ferry.

Back on Bali, our flight was delayed until 10pm. We had to make some decisions about how to get home.

Thankfully, it was easy to plan - sunset from the Intercontinental on Jimbaron!

And then dinner at Don Juan's!  The delay got us home late that night but we made the most of our evening.

 It was an unforgettable trip.  I've been so fortunate to find women who truly love one another and value friendship and laughter together with zero drama or attitude.  It's so rare to find a group like this.  Naturally, our paths won't be aligned that long (two are definitely moving, one is a maybe at the moment) but we'll enjoy every minute we get together. Thanks for the memories, ladies!

Happy Memories

Aggie Muster used to be a fun event here in Jakarta on April 21 because one of the JIS teachers is a former student.  The tradition hasn't started up again since Covid, so Amanda and I made our own little Muster because it also happened to be pajama night at Pokeeno!

Pajama night also had breakfast for dinner, and I almost died seeing this beautiful plate of bacon.  This is a rare sight in Indonesia!

Our lovely hostess Amanda wearing all of the men she won during play.

I won the blackout round and thought it was worth remembering how hard I worked to cover all my squares!

JIS graduation happens a few weeks before the rest of the students finish school.  At the end of April, I was busy at Booster Hut filling over a hundred orders of personalized merchandise for the seniors.  It was a little crazy but lots of fun handing them out on the last day of class for the graduates.

We had a torrential rainfall that afternoon to remind us that rainy season is not dictated by a calendar.

I popped into the gym to see it decorated for the junior/senior prom.  This is a lot nicer than my prom!

We were thrilled to see Troy Modlin in town for a few days.  We met up for some golf and a reunion dinner at Le Quartier, where we have many happy memories from years past.

 

Easter Weekend in Uluwatu

The kids had a 4-day weekend and Matt was fresh off a really busy work and travel week, so we were ready for a little beach time.  We flew into Bali late on Thursday but still made some time for Don Juan's, naturally.  Then we headed to our villa and checked in late in the evening, so we didn't get any idea of how it looked until the next morning.

The Bukit Peninsula of Bali is really interesting and hard to get an impression by looking at the map.  It has sheer cliffs with villas and hotels built all over them, so you don't really have any idea how you're going to get there until you see it.  We had a decent walk from the nearest road to our villa.  First, down the cool alley with 10,000 electrical lines.

There was some pretty solid looking electrical connection work done here, safely sealed off in a coke bottle.

It was about 8 flights of stairs down to get to our villa.  You better hope you didn't forget anything in the car! Thankfully, the staff helps with the suitcases when you arrive and depart.

Inside the complex, there were several villas along the staircase and each one was different and elaborately decorated.  Definitely not like any other place we've stayed in Bali.

While it turns out the villa itself was a bit oversold, the view was awesome.

We got to see a lot of rain over the main parts of Bali and each time it cleared, we had beautiful views of the mountains, sometimes as far as East Java, too.

Breakfast was nice and delivered straight to our porch!

We made a quick visit to Uluwatu temple with the kids.  There are a few things we've neglected to show them on our many trips to Bali and this one is a must. You can't actually go in the temple but the views around it are beautiful.

This has to be my favorite picture in Indonesia. We watched the monitor lizard crawl out of the bushes and onto the ledge and the monkey let it have all the space he wanted.

A little throwback to 2007 when Matt and I made our first trip to Bali! 

We remembered the monkeys being really aggressive when we went the first time and now there are signs all around warning you to hold onto your glasses and cell phones.  We were pretty careful to put our phones up each time we finished taking pictures and as we were walking out, we heard a woman scream as a monkey ran off with her iphone! She had even paid a guide to walk her around and "protect" her from the monkeys.  I hear they're good at bargaining and trading the monkeys bananas for valuables, so hopefully she got her phone back.

We spent the afternoon at Bingin beach in front our our villa and enjoyed the low tide and calm lagoon.

Sunset time from our jacuzzi tub!

We went to the villa's restaurant (just two flights of stairs!) and enjoyed fresh tuna while watching lightning all over the sky in the distance. We saw a lot of rain over the weekend but nearly all at a distance.

On Saturday, we went to Uluwatu break and Matt finally got to see where the pro surfers go.  Thankfully, it was a small day as far as the waves here go, so it was a lot of fun for him.  The only way out is through the waves in this cave.

While Matt was surfing, the boys and I paid our 100k to spend the day at this pool and warung.

Iced coffees all around to give the local lady a little business! We were actually talking to tourists there, which was really exciting for everyone. It's the first time we've met people coming in from international locations in two years!

Pretty fun that Matt could just paddle over and talk to us as well. The pool is built on the rocks and the whole thing would shake a little when a big wave came in.  I'd love to see what it's like when the real swell arrives!

Ahh, more stairs going up!  My calves were pretty sore after this weekend! But going up and down all the cliffs was more than worth it to experience the unique places.

We had lunch at Single Fins up at street level and watched the tide go out over the reef.  It was a wonderful place to take in the view.

One more pretty sunset from our porch and our weekend was almost over!

We went down to the beach to have barbequed seafood for dinner and got to enjoy our neighbor's fire pit as well.

Easter morning was bright and perfect for a sunrise service from our porch! We caught the Saturday night service from Houston and celebrated a risen Savior before breakfast. Even had a little more US chocolate, too.

When the service ended, we looked up and saw that we had a perfect ending to a lovely Easter morning!