Surf's Up

-


After a bit of lay in after our day and half of travelling we had a late breakfast on the terrace. We then had to change rooms as we had specifically booked a room with a safety deposit box and the one we were in did not have one. Once everything was moved, we donned our rashvests, grabbed our bodyboards and headed for the beach.

In order to get to the beach we have to walk through a shopping centre. It was sad to see many of the shops were boarded up, we can only assume as an aftermath of covid.

Onto the beach and we were horrified by the amount of plastic washed up on the beach... Never have we seen this before in Bali. We stopped and chatted to a German family and the dad said he had been coming here for 20 years and he had never seen it like that either. As we walked on one of the lifeguards was just putting a flag out so we spoke to him about the amount of rubbish on the beach. He said it is washed up every day as it is rainy season. He said it is cleared every morning (we are not so sure about this). He said once the main season starts in May more will be done about it. We certainly hope so!

It was not nice walking into the ocean with plastic bags clinging to our legs as we went.  Luckily the surf was pretty good even though it was low tide.  After a while we decided to head further up the beach as the German family had said that bit was cleaner.  It was better although still some rubbish around.  

We played in the surf for some time.  When heading back to our accommodation we spotted a wedding about to take place at one of the beachside resorts so stopped to watch the bride arrive.  Unfortunately for them, as the bride arrived, so did the rain.

Later we headed out for dinner and settled on chicken satay and rice which was very tasty but only a small portion and as we had not had any lunch we were feeling rather hungry.  We wandered on and came upon a stall selling small packets of food, so we thought we'd try one.  It was rice with a slice of omelette and some sambal which helped fill our bellies a little more.  We then headed to the Lippo Mall which has live music in the evening.  The band were having a break so we went into the Mall.  There was a stall selling food so we bought a banana leaf parcel which had some very tasty chicken, rice and a boiled egg. 

After picking up a few supplies in the supermarket we sat and listened to the band before heading back.


Popular posts from this blog

First Day Explorers

-
Image
After a good night's sleep, we woke early...ish for breakfast. We were hoping for a traditional Indian spicy fair but got a traditional boiled egg, bread and jam. We washed it down with a hot cup of Chai, so all was good. We ventured out in search of a few sites, however were easily distracted by fresh fruit platters, mango lassis and mobile phone cover shops. Next, an ATM stop to test various SBI machines. One small branch failed but the head office one worked. This was near the Mumbai stock exchange, complete with bull outside. We ended up at Horniman circular garden. An interesting name but the garden was being 'refurbished' - dug up. Marine drive is famous amongst the people of Mumbai. A huge boulevard next to the sea for romantic strolls. The stroll today wasn't filled with romance, more noise pollution as the whole sea defence boulevard was being fixed. Almost all of it for mile after mile. We had to walk on the dual carriageway but soon got fed up and headed inla
Read more

Le Havre to Nevers (7th-18th March)

-
Image
We have been cycling for 2 weeks now and have covered a lot of ground.  We have had varying weather of heavy rain, scattered showers and dry but cold.  Night's in the tent have been pretty cold! THE ROUTE (Le Havre) After our last night in a 'proper bed' for a while, we stocked up on food and headed out of Le Havre. We cycled through farmland to a pretty little town called Harfleur and then on to Lillebonne. We saw 2 massive birds nesting at the top of a post. Our first night camping was beside the river, very tranquil. (First night camping on the River Seine) We followed the Seine down to Rouen. This is funky town with lots of bars and restaurants all along the river. Unfortunately the heavens opened just as we approached so, after taking shelter for a while we continued on to find a camping spot for the night, this time near a railway line. From Rouen we headed throy St Aubin Les Ebeuf and Les Andleys following the river.  We saw lots of beautiful houses and chateau
Read more

Around Valence 22nd March to 9th April

-
Image
We are now staying with friends. One lives one side of the Rhone in the Ardeche and the other on the other side, in the Drome Region. We had originally planned to visit for a few days, however, due to the weather we have been here over 2 weeks! The day we arrived we had blue skies and sunshine, which lasted the first day! Since then we have had a lot of rain, thunder, lightning and hail. Our friends have very kindly said we can stay as long as we like. We have spent some time mending broken things eg. the bike repair kit bag, which virtually disintegrated and the sleeping mat, which we have now accepted cannot be fixed easily! We went to the Salon des Vin de France for a wine tasting event and tasted many wines from around France - some good, some not to our taste and not worth the high price. One sunny day we explored Valence. There are some very pretty parks and lots of historical buildings. We saw the Maison de Tete and a house where Napoleon used to live. We wandered the
Read more