Bali: Part 2

After our relaxing time at the villa in Lovina, we headed to a small island off of Bali called Nusa Lembongan to celebrate our engagement.

Here we got to ride all around the tiny island on a motor bike overlooking the insanely turquoise waters. I was very nervous to drive the motor bike at first and that was by far the most stressed out I've been in the past few months. But once I got the hang of it, it was really fun and free and the streets were very calm and easy to navigate with hardly any car traffic.

The beaches were straight off postcards. Giant bean bags are set up so you can enjoy drinks on the beach and watch the sunset. We have too many great pictures for me to handle.

We went scuba diving and were surrounded by 5 giant manta rays and a sunfish (mola mola)! By now I have seen some pretty great reefs, but the reef here was, dare I say, even better than the Great Barrier Reef because it was alive and healthy and teeming with fish. Even Sinead was impressed with the dives and healthy ocean life.

Huge mantas were getting cleaned by cleaner wrasse while circle this one little underwater hill

Mind blown

Sunfish: those really weird looking flat fish that are 6 feet wide!

Moray eel

I get to marry this classy lady

There is an even smaller island off of Nusa Lembongan called Nusa Ceningan where there are even more gorgeous beaches to enjoy. It is so small and remote that to get here you have to fly to Bali, take a ferry, and then take a motor bike over a tiny bridge. It is not yet very developed so it is extremely peaceful and you get to enjoy the raw nature of it. Sinead and I were both obsessed.







We stopped to have fancy cocktails at a picturesque infinity pool only to have our jaws drop when the cutest puppies wandered out to greet us. It was pure heaven.

If you want to see Sinead at her happiest, take her to a tropical island surrounded by marine life, healthy coral, and water sports, then give her a motor bike and tell her there are no rules, lots of cocktails, and that she doesn't ever have to change out of her bikini and board shorts. And then add puppies.

ARE

YOU

KIDDING

ME???

Bali is known for its stray dog population. The last time Sinead was in Bali, she got ringworm from petting stray puppies. She tried hard to resist touching them, but she caved many times and by the end of the trip she wasn't holding back. They really are too cute to pass up.

From Nusa Lembongan, we went back to main Bali and over to a small surf town called Balian Beach. There were very few tourists around giving it a very relaxing and fun vibe and it was good escape from the rest of Bali (not that I'm not in love with the general Bali vibe even with other tourists). Sinead surfed and worked while I did more yoga. The "treehouse" that we stayed in was not such a bad work hub.

Throughout Bali there are little shrines and offerings at every household and store. Through talking to many locals, we learned a lot about Balinese culture and Hinduism. Sinead's favorite are the morning offerings because they spend all this time making these beautiful displays even though they know they are going to get trampled. Acceptance of this impermanence is part of the gift to the gods. They show appreciation for everything (cars, food, health, education, tourism, etc) and believe that they own nothing, everything is temporary. It is a very thoughtful and peaceful culture that is great to be immersed in.

Some of the shrines where they would set up of the offerings

Typical offerings that line the streets. Including cigarettes cracked me up. I guess it's a real sacrifice for them.

All the markets sell colorful flowers for the offerings

After Balian Beach we went back toward more of the action to trendy Canggu. It was the most Westernized place we had been to in Bali which was initially a bit of a shock. There were the hippest shops and restaurants you could imagine and everything looked straight out of Instagram. It was my least favorite place we went to in Bali, but that's not saying much since I was blown out of the water by everywhere else.

Sinead's dream club on the beach

#basic #buttherearetemplesinthebackground

I'm that person taking pictures of her food

Trendy AF

The best part was that my sister came to meet us in Canggu! Melissa served as my entertainment so that Sinead could get more work done.

We had delicious smoothie bowls for breakfast every morning, shredded the gnar (read: poorly attempted surfing), and did more motor biking around the cute side streets.

Almost captured the party wave

Sinead and I decided that we wanted to take Melissa back to the best places we had been to thus far. So back to Nusa Lembongan it was!

Sinead wanted to check out the reef on the north side of Nusa Penida, another nearby island, so we got to do more diving in new areas where the reef was even more insane. I actually felt like I was in an aquarium surrounded by huge schools of fish and turtles. It was the best dive I've had to date and neither Melissa nor I could stop smiling after the dive. So happy that Sinead taught us to dive!!!

Fish everywhere!

I spy a turtle!

The next day we went snorkeling with our dive master's dad on his cute little boat and swam amongst the schools of fish again. Sinead practiced her underwater photography skills with the GoPro and taught us about all the different fish and marine life.

Underwater temples

Photo bomb

Fake feeding the fish (snapping your fingers) goes a long way

We saw the waves crashing against the cliffs and I was thoroughly amused when Sinead and Melissa were drenched by the water. We saw turtles and rainbows at the same time along with the colorful waters which was hard to top. I've run out of adjectives to describe how beautiful everything is.









The three of us then headed back to Ubud for one last hoorah. We introduced Melissa to the daily massage lifestyle along with yoga, good food, and hiking in between.

3 person massage? Yes, please!

Sadly Indonesia will only let Americans stay for 30 days (and we maximized that down to literally the last hour - we arrived at midnight and left at 11pm) so we were forced to leave. Bali is amazing because of its gorgeous beaches and cities, but mostly because the locals are so hospitable. They are so happy to have tourism so they make you feel genuinely welcome and ensure that everything is safe and enjoyable. I have never been somewhere like it because of this aspect and it was great to have all the conveniences we needed but still be immersed in their culture. I can't wait to come back.