Seminyak (by Niki)

We woke up in the morning feeling nervous to venture on to Seminyak since we had read and heard a lot about how overrun and touristy it was. This was why we avoided it's close neighbor, Kuta, but we figured we needed to get closer to the airport anyway and buying some Christmas presents would not be remiss.

Although the ferry was great being a brand new boat (all the locals gathered around excitedly to look at it), our drive was awful since we were crammed in the back seat with no leg room and no air conditioning. The air conditioning is fine if the vehicle can keep moving to allow air in but the touristy areas of Bali are notorious for their traffic jams and it was so unpleasant it was almost unbearable. I guess that's what we get for trying out the budget option!

Arriving at our lovely hotel took all of our crankiness away since it was a lovely apartment (sans kitchenette) and it was nice to have so much space. We quickly went for a walk and discovered that we were located on a wholesaler street which ended up being perfect for some last minute gifts. About five minutes away we discovered the gorgeous beach which strangely enough, reminded us of Tofino's beach with its large expanse of packed wet sand and the waves casually rolling in which are perfect for surfing. One look at those waves and I knew Josh wouldn't be able to resist surfing and sure enough his next statement was, "I have to go surfing!!". Since we had burned daylight, we spent the evening perusing the shops (some of which were insanely expensive with brand names like Paul Smith that I have never heard of before traveling) and having a bite to eat at an adorable coffee shop offering our favorite non-cultural meal of fresh baguette sandwiches.

After much discussion, we decided to go surfing since neither of us has ever gone warm water surfing before. To be honest, Josh's foot was not looking particularly great with the wound hardly improving in a week but I understood his reasoning although I was worried about how painful it would be. I should have known that as soon as he was in the ocean he would be too excited to feel any pain (I guess adrenaline is good for something). We got up early and headed to the beach too excited to sleep in or relax. The selection of boards available for rent wasn't great but we didn't mind some longer boards anyway so we could have more fun riding the waves rather than practicing on short boards like we do at home. Honestly, we had a blast and with our long boards I think we both felt great getting up almost every time. The waves were the perfect size for us if not a little choppy but the sun was shining and the water was warm which is something we have never experienced surfing before. The only complication was arranging my bikini top since we didn't have any swim shirts haha. Since Josh was handling his foot fine we ended up surfing for over an hour and earning ourselves two quite pink noses.

Reluctantly we left the beach and went home to shower and change. Being our last day in Bali we were on the hunt for a specific painting we wanted to buy for Sharilyn and we had a lot of fun searching for the perfect photo and bartering down some outrageous prices. To get the best options we taxied to Kuta although as I mentioned previously, we were warned not to go. It was awful from the get go with the excessive traffic and noise and with shopkeepers that grabbed us aggressively (I can tell you that this did not go over well for them) and would literally block our path and not let us pass. It was so outrageous we taxied right back to mellow Seminyak after looking at some paintings and bought one there instead. After our big day of surfing and shopping we simply grabbed a pizza and retired early to start our big process of packing (we had to buy another suitcase to fit all if our purchases!).

Feeling a little jaded in the morning since we were leaving and our trip was winding down, we went for one last walk on the beautiful beach. We left early for the airport because we had to check out but this is where our troubles began. The traffic was atrocious and even leaving four hours early for the airport we were stuck in it for so long that we started getting nervous that we would miss our flight. Eventually we did arrive about 45 min before our flight was leaving but everything was fine with the check in until we tried to go through security and they had a $30 airport surcharge that had to be paid in local currency. Not knowing this we worked hard to spend our last rupiahs so we were disappointed that we had to take money out and also incredibly stressed out because we had to leave the airport and go outside to find an ATM and they refused to give our passports back or our boarding passes so our anxiety was up. Regardless, everything worked out fine but it was definitely going to be one of those days and we were excited to arrive in Kuala Lumpur for a couple of days and to get a taste of Malaysia to see if we would like to return at some point.