August 1- Candidasa, Bali

Since we left Ubud, we have been very busy in Candidasa, but there is always time for a post. Saturday morning, we had arranged for a taxi to take us from Ubud to Candidasa. The taxis in Ubud are generally not official "taxis" belonging to a specific company or even displaying a sign denoting they are a taxi. Instead, the taxis are some local guy driving you around in his SUV or minivan. Well, Putu, our driver, showed up with his "taxi" promptly when we had arranged to meet him. He had a small SUV, and because we had done so much shopping in Ubud, our stuff was not going to fit inside. (In case you didn't see us when we left New York in late May, we each had a big backpack that was about 1/3 full, and a smaller backpack each that was 1/2 full. Now we have filled those backpacks, filled another big backpack, filled a huge wheelie suitcase, and filled two tote bags. Somehow we will make it home.) Anyways, Putu had to go swap cars with a friend so that we could fit with all of our stuff and make it to Candidasa safely. He didn't have too much trouble, and soon we were off to the beach.

We had looked at a bunch of hotels in our tour book and online, and decided to go to Lotus Bungalows, based on the author's recommendation in Lonely Planet. We debated a bit whether or not to find a less expensive place, or somewhere on another beach, but we stuck to our instincts, and they were right.

The pool here is just magnificent (there is a link to the picture because the internet connections are slightly less than magnificent, so we can't put up our own pictures).

picture of pool

Our schedule since we got here on Saturday is as follows:

Saturday: Arrive at Lotus. Check in. Drop bags off and promptly change into bathing suits. Nap on beach chairs. Move to day bed. Nap on day bed. Poolside lunch. Return to daybed for strenuous lounging. Read. Lounge. Read. Shower in outdoor shower under the moon and plumeria trees. Poolside dinner. Watch shooting stars over the ocean from daybed. Take the 22 step trek back to our bungalow. Sleep.

Sunday: Poolside breakfast. Retreat to beachside daybed. Read. Nap. Read. Play Nintendo. Swim. Move to poolside daybed. Poolside lunch. Read. Nap. Move to beach chairs. Notice single cloud in sky. Too bad. Lounge. Deep breaths before trek to bungalow. Big steps make it 17 paces away. Admire daily flower arrangement in room. Shower under plumeria tree. Poolside dinner. Return to beachside daybed. Drink Guinness. Watch stars. See shooting stars. Repeat last three steps as necessary.



Monday: Poolside breakfast in daybed. Arrange pillows on beachside daybed. Read. Lounge. Apply sunblock. Read. Nap. Swim. Poolside lunch. Nap. Retreat to shaded daybed. Read. Call home to confirm we're alive, dormant really. Shower. Poolside dinner. Return to beachside daybed. Drink Guinness. Watch stars. See shooting stars. Repeat last three steps as necessary.

Tuesday: Poolside breakfast in daybed. Read. Lounge. Nap. Swim. Poolside lunch. Fluff pillows. Internet post...

It's worth noting that we are the ONLY guests at the resort, and we have the entire staff of 20 at our disposal. They are very friendly, and we see them picking flowers that they arrange in our room (after cleaning it everyday for longer than we cleaned our apartment in Brooklyn in two years).



In case you are here looking for us, this is where you can find us until we fly back to New York on August 7.

picture of daybed

Lots of love,
Jillian and Ari