Sleep
1st flight was ok, 2nd flight we slept throughout.
The view from the plane was great as we approached the island. Volcanoes peering through the cotton wool clouds. We touched down with a bump, sailed through immigration and stepped outside. It was pretty warm even though this is the shoulder season. A short walk from the airport took us to our hotel but we couldn't help noticing how scruffy Bali was looking compared to 2019.
We checked in and went to buy 2 bodyboards. We had seen a Facebook Market place add for a few for sale, so we headed to find them at the beach. We saw a few for sale and eventually got ourselves 2 old boards for a reasonable price. Rental costs about 50,000 Rupiah but we paid just over 450 000 for boards we can use for maybe a month! Last time we sold them again and recovered some of the money, before that we just handed them over to 2 little kids!
Next stop was the nearby shopping centre. We couldn't both enter as the boards had to stay outside. We took it in turns to take a look around and investigate any evening entertainment.
Next, we walked back along the beach road. Many shops, restaurants and bars were now derelict. It was very sad to see the damage that Covid caused to an island supported purely by tourism.
Boards dropped off, we cleaned up and headed out to eat. Each time we have been to Bali, we have frequented 2 small local stalls for our meals. We know one had definitely closed but was the other forced to follow suit? Apprehensively, we approached hoping the stall was still there. We also hoped both the friendly lady and her wiggling stir fry husband had made it through the pandemic...
Not only were they both there and their livelihood fully intact but they looked at us, looked again and beamed with smiles from ear to ear. They recognised us and we smiled back. It could have been a very sad story but now we were happy!
We watched the man wiggle out our food. We ate Nasi Goreng, special omlette and rice with sweet and sour sauce. Delicious.
Full, we headed to the supermarket to buy breakfast. Porridge, chocolate milk, coffee and bananas. We also drank the small coffee Golda drinks we remembered from last time. Above the be supermarket was Mr DIY, we just had to look but we much smaller than in Malaysia. The band outside plays from 7.30 until 10.00 but rain stopped play.
Our way home would be a 15 minute walk in the rain. We were given a plastic bag from a stall to cover phones, money etc. Then we walked, and got wet.
A hot shower soon revived us and then it was bed.
