Home away from home...
...in Bali, our last stop for sun, surf, sand and of course diving. For the next 365 days at least.
The staff at the Conrad did a great job of welcoming us back, even remembering the comments we left the last time we stayed with them in 2004(with the help of computer filing of course).
There have been several changes since we were last here. Fuel prices have doubled translating to a similar rise in taxi fares. For instance, the cost of cabbing it from Benoa to Seminyak and back worked out to be about half the cost of our dinner. Hence, we spent the following nights eating at restaurants with free pick-up. heh.
The other striking thing was the paucity of tourist. Hotels are operating at 30-50% full capacity. When asked whether this was due to the low season now, someone replied "there is no high season anymore". Apparently, this all happened after the second terrorist attack at Jimbaran. Which seemed a bit odd as tourism picked up quickly and rose to even higher heights after the first attack.
but in anycase, Bali is still a great place to escape to and I'm sure I'll be back terrorist attack or not.
here are some photos...
a nice spot by the beach to watch the world go by, preferably with a gin tonic in hand!
here's Nat going "wheeeeeee" happy that we upgraded to the lagoon access room instead of the normal one on the 4th floor.
our friends at YOS marine. On the left is divemaster Cong, the chap we've been diving with in Bali all this while. On Nat's right is Martinus, one of the senior dive staff at YOS. (can't remember the other chaps name, ooops)
and last but not least .........the star of the show, the mantas!
