Bouncing Around Bali

 After our time in Timor the team had to travel through Bali to travel on to our respective homes. We stayed a few days which gave the team a good chance to reflect upon our experiences, debrief them together, do some future planning and discuss the presentations. It was a really relaxing time and great to just hang out together before we departed ways. After you have experienced so much together, it is hard to just leave Timor and head straight back home without having a chance to really chat about things as a team. Time well spent!

Back in Bali... waiting for a taxi. First thing we did was buy a coffee and connect to wifi (and, in my case, call home)..... such Westerners!

We got to Canggu and stopped at a motorbike shop to wait for the lady from the Villa to direct us. Out the back was a outdoor lounging area, which had a drinks bar. It was 2 for 1 cocktails - at a ridiculously cheap price. How could you pass that up??!!! All up, it was $8 for 4 cocktails! Yep, this is Bali!!!

The motorbike shop also had a restaurant, which we came back to for dinner. I ended up ordering Indonesian food, even though we had been eating it for a few weeks! It's right up my alley.

Scooter central!

A beautiful beach near by. We went there to check out the sunset. 

It was a beach full of all sorts of beautiful sights, such as this. Spectacular, hey!

And this! The sand here was almost black. 

Surfers were everywhere! I love this photo!

I LOVED riding the scooter! I took it relatively easy - compared to what my siblings would do - but I did max out at 80km/h. That's super fast for these roads!

Beautiful rice paddies. I love the fact that you can see the rice grains here. 

This is a dragon fruit cake - gluten and dairy free - and it was absolutely delicious!!! If only I had the recipe and access dragon fruit at home!

I LOVE THE SCOOTER!!!!  Had such a blast bombing around on it. I didn't drive into Kuta or anything crazy like that. I just stuck to the quieter roads near by.

After the rest of the team left to go home, I had 2 extra days in Bali as I was waiting for my flight to PNG. I decided to head to Ubud as I hadn't stayed there before. Best decision ever!

The hotel where I stayed were holding a Balinese dancing performance on the night that I arrived. It was very enjoyable to watch over dinner. 

The dancers kept on asking for the audience to have a photo with them. No one obliged and it was getting awkward.... so I headed up on stage. 

Beautiful flowers!

My neighbour in Tassie dropped me off to the airport on the day that I left. He had to get up at the ridiculous time of 4:55am to do that, which was soooooooo nice! He said that his only condition was that I send him a post card. So I did! Isn't this the coolest mailbox ever!

A little raw fudge I bought. Served on a banana leaf. Cool hey!

The glorious pool at the hotel! So relaxing. 

Bali was foodie delights for me! This is the most delicious raw pumpkin and cashew cheesecake. Sounds gross, but trust me, it was amazing. 

I followed this map and went to the Champuhan Hike. So beautiful as you will soon see!

The end of the trek is a little cafe overlooking to rice fields. Just stunning!

  

Trekking along. It was sooooo hot!!! I don't think I have ever sweated so much in my life!

Beautiful rice fields. 

The little huts at the cafe. I sat in one and had a coconut and a grilled corn. Delicious! The huts were refreshingly cool too.

A view from out the front of the hut!

My coconut. Beautifully decorated. 

In keeping with the food theme..... I found this amazing hole in the wall coconut ice cream stand. I spoke to the (American) owner which was really cool. Very nice ice cream too!!

And it wouldn't be Bali without a wander through the markets. 

  

Or without offerings.

Or cheap massages!! BEST EVER!!!

Decorations at the hotel. 

and a random tree with green leaf shoots and one red leaf, still clinging on. The leaf was much redder than it looks in the photo! I think this looks so pretty.

And so my time in Bali was over. Time for a (very delayed) over night flight to PNG and on to the next stage of  my adventure. It was with a little trepidation that I left my Timor experience behind. I had had such a blast that I felt that it would be very strange to move on to a new place and a new culture. But I left, with a prayer and God leading the way. 

Oh, what a blessing it has been! I am so thankful that I had some time to rest and recuperate in Bali before landing in PNG. It was great to take some time out before the work amped up. PNG has been AMAZING! And so different to Timor that there's no comparison at all, which is great. I'm so thankful to have this time to help out and support my church family in far away places. Stay tuned for some more adventures!

*please note, my apostrophe key is working.... for the moment!!!