Dolphins and Water Palaces

We were supposed to all go on a sunrise dolphin cruise this morning. We would be taken out in jekung spider boats (the local Balinese fishing vessels) to watch the sunrise and see dolphins. But as soon as we woke up, I knew I couldn’t go. My throat hurt really badly and I was starting to feel stuffy. I went back to sleep while Linda met up with the others to go. When I woke up again, I knew that I didn’t have strep...but I did have a cold. I’m sure I picked it up on one of the 4 planes I’d been in for 36 hours.

At breakfast, the women told me about the dolphin experience and I started crying. It was so amazing – they saw hundreds of dolphins leaping into the air and the sunrise was magical. But I knew I had to take care of myself if I was going to make it 10 more days.

Sunrise

Jekung spider boats

boats

A driver came to pick us up at 11 a.m. from Bali Golden Tour (his name was Winten), and drive us to to Ubud (back to the Alam Indah). On the way, we stopped for lunch overlooking some rice terraces. The view and the breeze were amazing. All the restaurants in Bali, for the most part, are open air. So finding a good location with a breeze is key. They also had many ponds with coy fish and a giant sign that said “Love” that we took photos with. 

Lunch with Love

We also stopped at the Taman Ujung water palace. This was built in the very early 1900s for the royal family as a vacation spot. The “resting place” for napping was a beautiful building in the middle of a huge pond that you reach by bridges. There were many steps going up to other areas of the property where you got lovely breezes and could see the ocean (not far outside the gates of the grounds). We were again stunned by meticulous carving, attention to detail, abundant gardens and breathtaking beauty.

Taman Ujung water palace

This was cool

View of the property

One of the bridges

Such a cool place

We arrived at the Alam Indah about 6:15 pm, and after dropping our stuff in our rooms (Linda and I had the same one as before), we walked over to the Lake Leke Restaurant for dinner and a show. They were performing the “Barong barong dance” - a traditional Balinese dance that tells the story of two rival kings who are turned into boars by a magical princess (or something like that). The women dancers were absolutely gorgeous in their traditional dress and fancy makeup. One in particular was so stunning it was hard to take your eyes off her when she danced. Food was a bit of an afterthought that night.

Beautiful dancers

Traditional dance

Our group with the dancers

Meanwhile, I was feeling pretty crappy and was quite congested. I decided to sleep downstairs in our suite so I wouldn’t get Linda sick or wake her with my nose blowing. Unfortunately, there is no AC downstairs, so I cracked the windows (I didn’t want to open them too big because I didn’t want any monkey visitors) and put the mosquito net around my bed. I was pretty hot though. And, I was having post-nasal drip so I kept coughing. Wasn’t a great night for me.