CAIT AROUND THE WORLD

May 9, 2023 — I got up in time for breakfast and coffee — always an accomplishment — and talked to home before getting dressed and gathering my stuff to head up the road to Dream Beach. When I was there the day before, I’d noted the incredibly strong waves that crashed against the beach and I thought I’d spend what was left of the morning playing in them.

When I got there, it was a bit of a challenge to actually get down to the beach itself —- the surf was much stronger than I’d expected and the tide was very high. I was a little too nervous to actually get in the water beyond the equivalent of dipping my toes in, so after I’d cooled off in the water I sat on the beach and hoped I wouldn’t get soaked by a rogue wave. No such luck there.

One wave came right up the beach to where I was sitting and where I’d laid out my towel so nicely, and foamed around my towel and my bag and myself. I leapt up and walked further up the beach (though there wasn’t exactly much further to go). I decided to leave and walked back to the hostel to change before heading to restaurant recommended by a friend I met in Australia. They had Dutch krokets on the menu, so I had an order of them and some quesadillas for lunch. Both of which were delicious!

After lunch, I contemplated getting a massage at the place across the street but decided against it on that particular day and went back to the hostel instead. I had some pool time and booked some things for my trip to Greece later in the month, did some blogging, showered, had some time in the air conditioning, and then finally convinced myself to go out for dinner.

I’d read about a really cool-sounding restaurant called Nick’s Place that was about a ten minute walk from the hostel. I started walking there but the problem with walking anywhere on Nusa Lembongan in the dark is that the roads are so narrow and the scooter traffic really doesn’t decrease. I was sort of kicking myself for not renting a scooter for longer than a single day, because it would have come in really handy at that point.

I walked a little ways in the dark, keeping very close to the side of the road and with my flashlight on so that people coming around the corners and down the road could see that a person was there. After a particularly strange corner, and after I was finally in a somewhat-lit-up area, a man rode up on a scooter and asked where I was heading. I told him and he offered me a ride. In hindsight, probably not my best move, but it turned out alright as he dropped me at the restaurant just a couple minutes later. He also said to contact the hostel when I was ready to go and they could provide pickup service. Now — I’m really bad at recognizing faces sometimes and I’m not sure, but I think he might have been one of the guys that worked at my hostel. In any case, everything turned out just fine.

I enjoyed a really nice meal at the restaurant. I’d talked to my family that morning and they’d told me that they went out to a place called Chuck’s Roadhouse at home. We’re practically regulars for their half-price appetizers after 9pm deal and they’d enjoyed some the previous night. One of my favourite things to get for half-price apps is loaded cheesy fries and one of our family favourites is spinach dip. I was so glad to see that Nick’s Place had both of those things as options for dinner. And I even managed to talk myself into dessert.

After dinner, I messaged the hostel on WhatsApp (this is really common in Indonesia and other places in Southeast Asia, as I understand. I also found it in Greece, which was very cool) and they sent someone out to pick me up from dinner and bring me back to the hostel — much less stressful than walking!

When I got back to the hostel I crawled into bed and watched some TV on my phone, had a conversation with my mom and booked some things for Ireland, and then finally went to sleep.

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