Le weekend.

Saturday...

it was with a heavy heart (and a variety of tiny lotions and soaps) that we checked out of Le Meridien Nirwana. A Korean tour group of fresh meat arrived last night, and after sizing up the same guests every morning at breakfast and inventing their back stories, (thoughts drift to the brotherlovers of Cavo Tagoo) it was sad to leave on a day when the new inventory was so promising. We already glimpsed what appeared to be a young Korean voodoo practitioner who spoke to a blond doll head on a stick she carried around with her. And now we'll never get to know her. : (

We did do a late checkout, and stayed until 3p. Not so much to stalk the new guests, but rather to soak up every last bit of hospitality we could from Nirwana.


Under the palapa at Nirwana.

We finally dragged ourselves away. On the road to Seminyak, we were re-routed by some local police, because of either a funeral or a wedding. We couldn't decide which. Entire towns seem to shut down when these happen here. Soon enough, we were at the Sofitel, and had successfully returned our rental car in one piece.

Even though the hotel we just left was also a French brand (Le Meridien), the Sofitel, or at least this one, somehow FEELS more French, maybe because it's full of French tourists. I'm over it already. ; ) Actually, it's also a beautiful property, but a little more crowded and smaller than the Nirwana. Still, no one has called us Mr. Jeffrey and Mr. Gregory yet.




Even though the Sofitel is in town, it still felt pretty jungle-y, Jim.


If you sit down in the lobby for more than few seconds, someone may bring you ice water and a scented towel.

Sunday...

I didn't bring my camera to breakfast. So you'll have to imagine the two, large monitor lizards that roamed freely just off the hotel's breakfast patio. The staff acted super casual about it, like "oh, those lizards!" but they looked pretty hungry and motivated to me. They made Jeff nervous, but worse than that, had many of the French tourists gathering around OUR table to gawk at them. It was all a little too much before coffee.


Breakfast patio sans reptiles.

Things settled down after our breakfast wildlife encounter. Way down. We parked our derrieres on some chaise lounges (see, the French influence is already seeping in) under an umbrella facing the beach. And there we stayed for most of the afternoon. We did finally muster the energy to do a bit of shopping in town, and had dinner at a Greek restaurant near the hotel.


For our last night in Bali, only the Bestest would do.


Jeff works his milkshake.

We're kind of in denial that a 14 hour flight to countries recently under Communist rule is really what's next.

What if they don't have blender drinks?