1-17-2011

We had made reservations to go snorkeling today. However, when we arrived at the dive shack they told us that it was cancelled because the visibility was not good due to the storms lately. I rented a mask and flippers and went diving right off the beach while Lina watched from the beach. It was amazing. It was very clear and the coral was very colorful. This was the first time I have ever snorkeled in a tropical area. As kids we snorkeled in New England but the colors there are mostly shades of black with the occasional green from some gross seaweed. Here it is all day glow greens, pinks, blues and yellows. The coral itself is all different shapes and colors. Some look like just rocks, others like brains, others trees, others mushrooms etc. Among the coral is a lot of fish. They are very interesting too and colorful. Felt like I was watching “Finding Nemo”. There are orange clownfish (only fish name I knew), yellow, blue and green fish. Even little translucent ones that swam by in a school. There were these bright day glow blue starfish in a couple of places that were bigger than my hand. I spent more than 2 hours getting wrinkly. I could have stayed all day. Lina made a friend on the beach, a dog that seemed to want to protect her.
We hired a driver to take us to Lovina for lunch and shopping for tourist crap. We called the same guy who picked us up from the airport. He was working on his farm when we called but he showed up a couple hours later as agreed. The ride to Lovina was nice. Lovina is the largest town on the north coast and filled with hotels, restaurants and tourist stuff. The driver chose the Hotel Damai for us to eat at. This hotel was one of the ones we looked at before deciding on Amertha. It is nestled up in the hills in the jungle with a view of the ocean about 2 miles away. It is very posh. It seems to be catering to and used by Europeans. It has a Bavarian feel to the place with exposed beams and heavy wooden doors. The view of the valley rolling down to the sea was gorgeous. The food was excellent. The staff was unfriendly, felt like I was in Paris with snooty waiters again – but without the dog seeds on the sidewalks.

I took a picture of a stone carving that is part of the building and which is visible in the restaurant of a swastika. I could not figure out why a place that caters to Europeans would have a swastika carved in stone. Listening to some of the restaurant diners talking I learned that “European” was mostly “German”. Still though it is odd. I figure either the swastika is something the Balinese are familiar with and not bothered by – like the Hawaiian pineapple company who used it pre-WWII; or it has been here since before WWII and never removed. Or maybe Mengele owns the place and takes a daily dip in the pool.

After lunch we shopped in a couple of tourist dives before heading to the Banjar Hot Springs (Banjar Air Panas) on the way back toward the hotel. In rained lightly in the afternoon but the hot springs were great. You walk over a bridge to pay the 20 cents entrance fee after passing a thousand towel stores on the way in. Turning a corner you see the top pool of two very large pools that are fed by water pouring out of the mouths of stone dragon heads on the walls. The top pool is hot, the lower pool is slightly cooler. Lina changed in the dressing room while I just jumped in (with swim trunks on – signs say nudity is prohibited). The water smells slightly of minerals I could not identify. The force of the hot water hitting you in the upper pool was like a light massage. The lower pool has the dragon heads up higher on the wall so it was more forceful. In a separate lower pool on the right there are about 6 spouts very high on the wall that beat you when it hits your body. I was quizzed there by a group of local boys. They asked me where I was from “Mister”, I answered in Indonesian which made them all laugh and start asking more questions. Lina and I spent a lot of time in the upper pools before showering to go. The place had many locals. The boolay who were there seemed to be mostly European or Russian hippies or backpackers.