So we left Beijing and China for sun and sand in Bali, but it didn't happen easily!

I ended my last post writing about how hard it was to get transport in Beijing, and that we finally found a taxi to get us there. Well, he did come to pick us up at 4 am in the morning, we drove for about 30 minutes, when suddenly we had to stop, we could drive no longer. The highway to Tianjin was closed because of smog (forurenset tåke), all cars had to turn around and go back. The only other option would take 4 hours, and we definitely did not have 4 hours. Our plane was supposed to leave in less than that! After a lot of back and forth on the taxi driver's phone talking to one of the girls at our hotel, it seemed like our only option was to get the bullet train (superfast train) to Tianjin, it only took 30 minutes. Problem was that the first train left at 6.30 am, check in for our flight closed at 7 am. There was no way we would make it, because we would have to get a taxi from Tianjin railway station to the airport. What else could we do though? We got on the train, which at the fastest was 330 km pr hour! Got off in Tianjin, prayed to a god we don't even believe in that our plane would be delayed, and found a taxi. Next problem was that taxi driver spoke no English, and the word airport meant nothing to him, I tried saying the name of the airport Bin Hai, he just looked at me. I showed him my plane ticket, still nothing, so he took it outside, and at one point 5 men were staring at the plane ticket from Tianjin to Kuala Lumpur, and no one seemed to understand that we wanted to go to the airport!! I don't think I have ever been as frustrated as I was then, and I had to run around pretending to be a plane, while saying "Bin Hai Airport", finally they understood and all laughed, and we were on our way.

10 minutes before departure, we get to the airport, run to the check in counter, and wouldn't you believe it, our plane was delayed! No worries, the woman checked us in, and for the next 4 hours (!) we sat waiting to board our plane to Kuala Lumpur. In security they took my nice Mongolian knife that I had bought for Bobby. I never knew you couldn't even bring knives in your checked in luggage, they almost took my cheese slicer as well, but I begged them, and they let me bring it. The security guard's reason was: "China has many enemies". We were so happy we didn't have to spend one more night in China, so we can't really complain that the plane was delayed, but it was so much delayed that we did not get on the plane to Bali that day. We had to spend the night in a dirty airport hotel, and get on the earliest flight to Bali next day.

Finally got here on Thursday, booked into the hotel I always stay at (AP Inn), and lounged by the pool for the rest of that day. We haven't really done much since we got here to be honest. It's nice to relax in the sun, and to know that we aren't going anywhere until Friday night.

We have a pool at our hotel, where we hang out, or we go to the beach, but there are a lot of sellers there, and creepy men filming us with their cameras, so it is sometimes nicer to stay here. I love going for walks at the beach though, the other day I went for many hours, listening to music, basically just enjoying life. That was until I saw many people gathering on the beach, and then I realized that a man had drowned and they were trying to resuscitate (sp?) (gjenopplive) him. It was a massive, middle aged white tourist, and they needed 6 Indonesian life guards to carry him out of the water. They tried to save him, but I don't think they managed to do it. After 10 minutes, the ambulance came, and he still hadn't started breathing again. That was not a nice thing to witness… Scared me even more of the ocean, especially here, as the currents (strømmen i vannet) are so strong.

Yesterday, we went on a day trip of the island, went to several temples, they are mostly Hindus here, and everyone has their own temple in their garden! We also went to a monkey park, where the monkeys climbed on us to get food ( peanuts), and one of them pooed (ja, bæsjet!) on me, which I didn't realize until we left the park, but it was not so nice to have poo all over my shorts and handbag! Our last stop was at a temple in the water, Tanah Lot, to see the sunset. I was there last time as well, with Louise, and we had the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen, but this time it wasn'tthat nice, sadly…

The next days we will go snorkeling, hike up a volcano in the middle of the night, and go surfing. I met my old surfing teacher from last time on the beach, and he and his friend will teach us to surf this time as well. Funny how you meet people you know here. He said he recognized me, though I am not so sure, after all it's been almost 2 years. Anyways it's nice to have a teacher that I trust and know!

Will update again before we leave Bali on Friday night. J