Hey Boss! Aston?

Bali is amazing! Today after breakfast we walked around and found a taxi driver who would take us around all day. We got an amazing deal and had him from about 11am to 7pm for only 40 dollars. Tomorrow he is taking us down south to go snorkeling, see some sea turtles and the best of all a water sport called fly fishing. Yes it involves a boat but no fishing poles are involved. You are pulled behind a boat on an inflatible and catch up to 30 feet of air! It seriously looks amazing so I had to include a photo because well words just won't do it justice. Pretty sweet, right?

Today was pretty cool but I was kinda drowsy from being up late last night. Yesterday was pretty action packed. We went to the beach and all got a little burned but it was so worth it. The waves here are great, pretty powerful stuff. They can knock you over if you aren't careful. It is perfect for surfing or boogie boarding though. We rented three boogie boards and traded off playing in the surf. Lindsey was having a blast until her arms got all torn up from rubbing against the board. I caught a couple of really great waves and rode them all the way into the shore. I'm working on a pretty good tan and by the time I get back to Utah I'll be dark.

After playing hard at the beach it was time to head back to the hotel and get cleaned up. We were all tired so we thought that getting massages would be a great idea. Jared, Lindsey, Mom, and I all got foot massages for an hour. The cost? A whopping $6 a person. I love cheap massages! My dad got an oil massage and mina had a mixture of balinese and head/shoulder. Overall, it was a rather relaxing experience. I was supposed to meet up with Brigham but we hadn't had dinner yet so we walked back to the hotel where I could use the Wifi to contact him. Turned out he was running late too so we went to dinner nearby at this restaurant called the Grill Corner. The food was pretty good except for my Mom's. She ordered the Chicken Cordon Blue but when it came out it wasn't cooked in the middle. She ordered a club sandwich after that and luckily didn't get sick. After a short walk to the hotel I contacted Brigham again to tell him I was back. Turned out he went to the wrong hotel but within 5 minutes he rolled back up on his motorbike and we were off into the night.

We decided to go to the beach since it was so close. We walked around in the sand talking about everything from Utah to Thailand. There was a movie playing on a big sheet at a hotel so we stopped by and watched a few minutes, we think it was Beowolf but it wasn't that great so we kept walking down the sandy shore. It was a perfect night and you could see the stars super clear. I don't know if you guys have ever lived in a big city but you can never see the stars. If you are lucky you see a star. Fireworks started going off in the distance so we sat down and watched them for several minutes and talked for nearly 2 hours. Now the real fun begins... leaving the beach we got so lost! The road that we had taken to get there is one way and at night it is so easy to get turned around. We wandered around for nearly an hour and found 2 different Aston hotels that were not the right one. Luckily Brigham is not one of those guys who is afraid to ask for directions. Here in Bali everyone is Boss and so I would show them the card with the Hotel's address on it and then he would ask for directions. The people here are so kind and a guy took us on his motorbike and we followed him to the hotel. I was home a bit later than I was supposed to be but it was so worth it.

Probably the best part of today was going to the Rice Paddy. They are terraced into a deep ravine and it was gorgeous! We ate some fried banana and Balinese banana pancake while looking out over the rice fields. This old man with woven palm frawn hats came up to us and we took a picture with him. The only bad part about this area is because it is a tourist attraction it is swarming with vendors and people eager to sell you their goods for a "dollar". They really don't know what a dollar equates to in Indonesian Rupies and so the price drastically goes up after you start looking. It is pretty bad, if you acknowledge them at all they will hunt you down and stalk you until you buy something. I felt bad ignoring them but it is that or be accosted by them. I understand they have to sell their goods in order to provide for their families but it really can get annoying after 20 people have asked you or begged you to buy it from them. I would much rather just have the luxury of looking at my leisure. Bali has definitely been fun so far and I'll keep the blog posts coming.

Random Fact:  Karate actually originated in India but was further developed in China.