We took a day off yesterday. I could tell you about the infinity pool overlooking the beach, the balmy breezes, the delicious meals, the waking up late and going to bed early… but there's not really a positive point to that (for you). So we skipped a day of blogging as well.

On this 8th day we got restless. We tried to arrange a driver via WhatsApp - text and call. The instant gratification American in me got a little irritated when I didn't hear anything for an hour, and arranged one with the neighbors. I then got an apology from the driver that he couldn't respond sooner because he was driving to Ubud, a 2.5hr drive we ourselves negotiated just 2 days earlier. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Tom…

Alan was our host for the day, and he took us to Singaraja, the original capital of Bali and about a 45min drive east. It translates to Lion King, Singa for Lion (remember the Singapore blog?) and Raja for King. It is a harbor town where the old harbor front is still somewhat lined with Dutch warehouses, although they've also in the past few years torn a lot of those down and put concrete structures in place. A bit of a shame, if you'd ask me, but you didn't, so let's move on.

The town is confined in its geography by mountains, and as Bali grew in importance and population, Singaraja was challenged for space to continue to be the capital. Hence, the government moved to Denpasar, where there is an airport. And, you'll hear the locals say, a ton of tourist, and thank God the capital is now Denpasar. There appears to be a decision made by the government to build an airport on the north side of the island, and locals are quite concerned about how that will change their lives to a much more tourist-infused busy day-to-day.

We visited a Chinese Buddhist temple, which is different from a Balinese Buddhist temple (which we visited next). We learned two critical things: 1) We are in the year of the dog, for just about a month longer, with pig being next, and 2) Chinese Buddhists and Balinese Hindus pray to the same God. They are inclusive. The history is interesting, in that Buddhism on Bali preceded Hinduism, yet globally Hinduism is far older than Buddhism, by about 1,500 years. What happened on Bali is that rather than being adversaries, they freely borrowed from each other to create a local better form of their respective religions here on Bali. If only we could learn something here…

After some grocery shopping, we visited a spectacular Balinese Buddhist temple. I know we'll see more on our trip to Thailand, but the colors and the gold, even if it is gold plated, are a beautiful sight. We were self-guided, so we observed instead of learned, but I recommend it if you're ever in northern Bali.

The evening ended like all our evenings end here: spoiled by our team with yet another spectacular dinner. January 2019 is going to be a record weight loss month for me, and until then, I'm just not going to apologize for indulging.