Bali, Day +2

With the AC set to 16°C over the whole night, trust me, it is really difficult to drive yourself out of the cozy confines of the bed even though its way past 10 o' clock and you are about the miss the breakfast! Breakfast? That thought was more effective than any alarm clock or motive in the world! Lets go and feast! Aston Bali - here we come! I don't think we had time to even take a bath before landing up at the breakfast table and gobbling up the delicacies! The spread was amazing - wide variety of breads, egg preparations, fish n' meat, cold salads and sandwiches, fruits, juices, regular coffee - tea, and what not! Though we were a little late, but managed to grab a good bite! The ambiance was great - lot of people from across the world, good decor and arrangement - fantastic. We are truly in Bali! :)

Next on our minds? What else? Its the pool.. and in no time we were in our swimming costumes.. and sipping super cooler right off the bar in the middle of the pool! Always imagined doing that back in India.. but most of the pool have a no alcohol policy.. What the heck! And who cares! When in Bali, do what Balinese do! And we were actually doing it.. Dip - dip - dip, surface a little, and have a sip! Couple of hours in the pool, we suddenly realized that we have come to Bali for the beach, and that's where we are headed now.. Low tide has made the waters retreat a little.. For around 200 meter it was calf-deep, cooler than the pool, and so clear that one can see every detail of the sand underneath as it keeps changing its surface in line with the waves. Walking through the soft sand at first, followed by a little rocky floor for a while, we crossed the smoother sand and a bit of floating sea weeds before reaching a kind of island which has surfaced due to the tide. The sand was wet and cold with strong sea waves consistently hitting the shore. Lying flat on your stomach in the waves and letting yourself pushed and pulled along, with a soft feel of sand slipping underneath, is something one has to experience to believe. Being in the water since morning has started taking a toll on our energy levels and the need to refuel was growing stronger by the passing minutes. Eventually giving in the desire to hit the pit stop, we walked back to the shore, on the way to be greeted by couple of star fishes. They kind of look dead from the top and even to touch from above, but the moment you pick them up and turn them upside down, you can see the numerous mini suction pads moving back to get concealed into the five zipper like openings. I have never been very familiar with the sea and was little hard to believe that you can find the star fishes so easily.

Lazed around for quite some time in the hotel shacks on the beach.. Ordered some snacks and food.. over fed ourselves as usual.. and just wanted to lay like that forever in the cool breeze and soothing sight of the alive beach. By the time we went to our rooms, caught up on our power naps and got ready, it was late to make a trip to the city. So what? We have our cameras with us and made full use of them to capture everything around. The photography shoots ended up with is exploring the street outside our hotel which was full of star properties and mini marts, before settling down for dinner at a local restaurant - Laguna, at a walking distance from our hotel. Planning for the next day was on our minds the whole time during our walk-cum-exploration, and one of the exciting ideas was to hire high cc bikes to ride to ride around the place. Found a local vendor who did show a great interest in arranging the high cc bikes for us, but had to call up his sources to confirm the make and cc. The high cc bikes turned out to be the regular 150c bikes available as entry level lay man transport back in India. Hmm.. quite a disappointment, but anyways.. food was waiting for us. The hotel was playing live rock, with majority of the audience rocking to it. Cocktails are typical Balinese variants though the names sound quite global and familiar. They aren't bad, just different - you may not get the same taste or style as you are used to in the west. Food was good; limited choice for vegetarians - Nasi Goreng, a kind of fried rice, Cap Cay and Vegetable Curry was all that was on menu for the vegans. Lot of options in non-vegetarian though, but we chose the familiar sounding ones to be on the safer side on day one. Kwality Walls Chocobar feast and similar scoops / cones were the post dinner deserts from the local mini mart.

Quite a start at Bali.. A few last-minute low-light shots at 300mm from the hotel corridor and we are back to the rooms.. spent some time planning the next day - a trip through Batubulan, Mas, Ubud and Tanah Lot temple were the agreed agenda.. As we had moved ahead in the timezone towards east, we were already famished on the sleep and had a lot to catch up on.. Hardly remember when we dozed off..