Traveling Around Paradise

It's  been difficult to find time and blog, but I really should try to jott some things down, something to come back upon and reminice. 

Bali was a blast, the Gili islands were probably my favorite place so far. It's pure paradise. The snorkeling was out of this world, discovering some of the biggest sea turtles on the ocean floor and most colorful assortment of fish. I can't wait to look at our gopro pics.

The gili islands are islands off of Bali, but are actually part of Lombok. Lombok is a Muslim country, which made it even more interesting. Up to 5 times a day, you could hear the mosque prayer anywhere on the Gili island, coming from the big speaker. It's interesting to listen to, obviously not understanding a word. At times, it would be a little bit eerie when the streets were silent, or when they would go off at 5am, but it was just something that I never really heard before. Kinda neat to experience that culture. 

On another note, the abundance of drugs on the island was crazy. Every corner I turned, I was being offered magic mushrooms and Molly.  And there's no police on the island, which scared me a little. The lonely planet book directed us to a security station if anything was stolen, but other then that, no authorities.

    Hanging at Pearl Pool for the Day!!

Also, the island allowed no motorized vehicles what so ever! Kinda neat- just horse drawn buggies and bicycles. And there were cats everywhere! BUT Absolutely no dogs allowed. At times, the cats could be pesty. They would be scavenging at your feet in restaurants, fighting over left over fish with other local cats. At one point, there was a cat that went potty right next to our dinner table. All these Cats, deffinetely made me miss my dogs. 

Gili had some of the bluest water I have ever seen. And the temp was perfect. Our hostel, Woodstock Hostel was amazing. The staff were the coolest bunch of guys. Every night they would come into our bungalow and tighten up the mosquito nets and light some awesome inncense that kept the bugs away. They were constantly helping us book things, answering all of our questions and just always joking around and having a good time. Ron was the man! 

After Gili islands, things shifted a little bit. We took a ferry back to Bali, Amed and about 2 hours after being back, my stomach went A-wall. I started puking and then Matt started with similar symptoms and then gabe. It lasted about a day, mine trailing on the longest. It was miserable. I think I have the most sensitive stomach out of the bunch, which sucks because I want to try all the street food. My last couple meals were the chicken satay, a peanut sauce dish at the local street food markets. After my stomach went BaZurk, chicken satay is now on the bottom of my list. 

I have been really trying to eat by the guidelines of "how not to gett sick abroad" but unfortunately my stomach has been a little woozy the last couple days with some unfortunate travelers diarrhea. Not fun. 

We've been abroad now for about 18 days. It's been absolutely exhilarating. So much detail and experiences that I've skipped over in the blog.I will for sure be back to recap more. Until then.