The Beauty of Bali by Brian

We saved the best for last. Bali, by far, was our favorite stop on a two-week journey that took us all over Asia.


As you can see - the island is a beauty. We spent most of our days relaxing on the beach, which was literally a hop, skip, and a jump from our hotel, The Oberoi. And what a stay we had. This was easily the best hotel we've ever stayed at, and the staff treated us like royalty. They even polished our sunglasses at the beach!

Speaking of the beach - good people and animal watching! My favorite were the horses. I ran a long distance to get that photo so I hope you enjoy it. There were also a lot of stray dogs on the beach. Not my favorite, especially after witnessing one pooch use the sand as his toilet. Just as common as the dogs, were the old Balinese women offering on-site beach massages. I passed but Katie got a 45-minute massage for $10 U.S. dollars. She said the massage was OK, good enough for 10 bucks. Her biggest complaint wasn't the sand, but that they massaged her head and got oil in her hair. Poor baby.

The best part about Bali, for me anyway, is that there was no schedule. Y'all know that Katie loves schedules. She's affectionately known as "Clipboard Katie" in Sacramento. However, she did assure me before we left for Bali that I could sleep in every morning. Despite that assurance, I woke up at 5:45am on two mornings. Why, you ask? The Yankees, of course! Not even the beauty of Bali could keep me from watching October baseball, even if I had to do it in the wee hours of the morning. It was totally worth it. Sleep or Yankee playoff baseball? I'll take the Yankees every single time. Afterwards, I enjoyed a hearty "American Breakfast" for what seemed like the 50th time in a row. We more or less had the same breakfast every morning because it was included in our package. Bali wasn't as cheap as the other places we visited, and we figured that was the "fiscally responsible" thing to do. It was good though!

While we did spend most of our time near the grounds of our hotel and resort, we took one day trip to another part of the island - Ubud. This was inland, away from the crashing waves. We got to see a traditional Balinese home, picturesque rice terraces, and the Monkey Forest. The monkeys freaked me out a bit. Katie even snuck in some shopping at a gallery and a market. My least favorite part of the day trip.

Overall, I give Bali an A, just a notch below Hawaii, which is an A+. But who's complaining? (For the record, Katie gives it an A+.) Check out these photos.