Indonesia
Day 2: Lombok - Seminyak
First priority: breakfast. Easier said than done. As soon as we woke up we walked straight into town, hoping to grab some food before boarding the ferry. Nothing was open. The best we could find was a small convenience store, so we loaded up on their sugary, processed options before heading for the water.
The ferry arrived half an hour late. No problem, 30 minutes is nothing. It then proceeded to break down on the way over to Bali, not once, not twice, but FIVE TIMES. Seriously, how was it even seaworthy? So the trip ended up taking more than twice as long as it should have, and wasted a good chunk of our day.
When we arrived in Seminyak we could finally relax. We checked into a fantastic, modern hotel right near the beach, with a pool, restaurant and bar all within stumbling distance. Now our holiday could begin, 24 hours after it should have. Having lost a day of travel, we only had one night to enjoy everything Seminyak had to offer. We knew what we were doing first: hitting the beach.
First stop: beach.
Long, wide sands extended off in both directions, resorts nudged each other out for space, sun umbrellas laid out as far as the eye could see - we were definitely in tourist-central. A quick bite to eat then it was on to the cocktails, fully taking advantage of the beautiful scenery and the cheapness of the drinks.
We (I mean Danny) didn't hit the liquor too hard, as our plan was to hire a scooter (that Danny would drive) to check out a few sights. After waiting until we were sure the alcohol was out of Danny's system, we grabbed the bike and hit the road. First stop was Tanah Lot, a temple perched on top of a rock a few metres out to shore. Apparently every person on the island also wanted to see it today. It was a pretty cool spot to build a temple, with waves crashing on the rocks below. Shame it was a miserable day, with no chance of one of their renowned sunsets.
Next we headed to Kuta, famous for being the home of the biggest number of Aussie bogans outside of Australia. We definitely didn't want to be in the area later on when the nightlife started, so we did a brief zip through to say we had seen it. The Bali bombing memorial was heart-breaking, and seemed out of place in a town like this. Danny got sucked into completing a tourism survey for a local student, which later came back to bite us in the butt. There was time for one drink at a traditionally bogan pub before heading back to slightly more civilized Seminyak.
Dinner was on the main street, at a local, basic cafe. Dozens of dishes were laid out in trays and we pointed to everything that appealed. All options were cold, we discovered after ordering. A good way to try lots of different foods, as well as assess our chances of developing food poisoning. Some were great, some were not so great. Dinner was followed cocktails, of course, before heading to bed at a reasonable hour.