Over the weekend we had a sneaky trip to the Nusa Islands. We stayed on Nusa Lembongan for 3 nights leaving Thursday morning and returning Sunday afternoon.

We left Canggu early Thursday morning and got a taxi to Sanur which took around an hour. We then got on a boat across the Indian ocean to Nusa Lembongan. It's about a 30 minute ride. We booked with Setia Fast Ferry.

The boat was fairly smooth given it's exposed ocean. I can imagine there could be some big swell and the ride not being very pleasant on certain days.

When the boat nears Lembongan you hop onto a smaller boat when takes you to the main beach. There's no pier for the boats to dock at; it's just a beach landing. You step off onto white sands and crystal clear blue water. It's a magical (and old school) experience.

We then found ourselves a taxi and checked into our accomodation. We stayed at Komodo Garden in a beautiful lumbung style room.

There's no normal cars on the island; the taxis are all converted Suzuki trucks which have open air carriages. The roads have a lot of pot holes so it's a bumpy ride when you're riding in one of these. On a scooter it's much easier to avoid the holes.

We firstly walked to Dream Beach and had a quick swim. We then hired a scooter and drove to the main town for lunch. In the afternoon we went to the Sandy Bay Beach Club, had dinner and watched the sun set. The beach club was only a 3 min walk from our accomodation which was very convenient.

On Friday morning we woke up early to go on a snorkelling tour. We booked with Captain Coconut Snorkelling.

We went to 3 different locations the first of which was at a place called Manta Bay where we saw giant Manta Rays gliding peacefully in the currents. This location was packed with people and it was very choppy waves so whilst we saw the Manta Rays it wasn't a chill experience.

We then went to a place called Crystal Bay. It was a beautiful little bay with coral, heaps of fish and also a couple of turtles. I love turtles so much so they all get the honorary name of Boots.

We finished off at Mangrove Point which was the most chill spot of the 3. There was once again coral, heaps of fish and turtles and because there was so few people you could really take your time and just float along.

We went back to the hotel and in the afternoon did some exploring of Nusa Ceningan via the scooter. There was a beautiful spot called Blue Lagoon where we got some pretty photos before having a cooling drink because it was boiling hot in the direct sun.

In the evening we had dinner at Bar Riva which had a very Amalfi Coast vibe to it. We had an amazing panoramic view of Lembongan that almost seemed fake. Like a fake little island town and a fake volcano in the background.

We woke up early again the following morning and I had a surf lesson whilst Emma got a massage. I booked with Lembongan Haleiwa Surf Lesson.

I got taken out on a boat with a guide (with 2 other beginner surfers) to a break called Razors.

It was a beautiful little reef break where there was a section you hold onto a rope (connected to a pontoon) whilst you waited for your turn with the instructor. It really is helpful to have the instructor to know where to paddle to and also to get a little push onto the waves. I got about 5 waves and one really nice one where there was a little drop off. I found I could quite easily turn on the wave as it was a left hand break.

In the afternoon we once again headed to the Sandy Bay Beach Club and had a nice dinner whilst the sun set. It was a gorgeous way to end the little trip. It was so nice having a little walk on the sand in the dark and a little romantic dance whilst someone played live acoustic guitar.

The following morning we had a brief window of time to explore where we checked out Mushroom Bay and took photos of lots of cute dogs. We then got the boat back to Bali.

In my opinion the answer is honestly pretty simple: blogs and RSS feeds. This was how it was done for years before social media came into the scene. You would find someone's blog, subscribe to their RSS feed, and anytime a new post came out it would pop up in your feed and you could read it. One important clarification is that when we say "blog" it can be pretty much whatever you want it to be. On my personal website I generally write more of my serious blogs, but on my bear blog I plan to be a bit more casual. It will be a place where I record short thoughts, ideas, musings, or cool things I find on the internet. Just sharing what I would normally share with my friends. That's what made the web great, and that's what I want to bring back.

I wish this was the world we lived in. Don't think it ever will be though.

This seems like a good idea if the privacy settings are solid.

A timeline of your day, automatically

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This week we've headed to a fancy gym complex in Canggu called the Bali Social Club. The gym is nice but out back they also have a bunch of Padel courts.

Me and Emma have played 2 games of Padel this week and we're pretty in to it.

It's essentially a hybrid of tennis, pickleball and squash. It's more like tennis if I'm picking one of the three though.

I still don't quite understand the rules but it's essentially tennis but you can rebound the ball off the back wall in certain cases. So you can let the ball bounce (in the court), let it hit on the back glass wall and then hit it back over the net.

The rackets are also like a hybrid of a tennis racket / table tennis style. They're very thick but smaller in total size compared to a standard tennis racket.

All those times playing tennis in the backyard paid off in terms of me being able to play okay. Emma was also pretty solid despite never really playing tennis.

It's time for me to stop being lazy and actually learn some Indonesian.

I should at least know:

• Terima kasih – Thank you
• Tolong – Please (when asking for help)
• Permisi – Excuse me (to pass by or get attention)
• Maaf – Sorry
• Selamat pagi – Good morning

at the bare minimum. It is kind of amazing how bilingual service staff are here though. They can so quickly switch between their native tongue and english.

Just as an experiment I wanted to track everything I ate for dinner last week (starting from Monday 22nd of September).

Here is the list:

• Monday - Nasi Goreng at Mowie's - 75k
• Tuesday - Burrito Bowl at Nude - 115k
• Wednesday - Pizza at Louie's New York Pizza Canggu - 170k
• Thursday - Chilli Con Carne at Nude - 85k
• Friday - Shrimp & Pork Wonton Noodle Soup at Papa Lee's Taiwan Noodle & Dumplings - 130k
• Saturday - Grouper at The Lawn - 180k
• Sunday - Various things at Bokashi - 450k

Total pre tax

75000+115000+170000+85000+130000+180000+450000=1205000 IDR

Tax (15%)

180750 IDR

1205000+180750=1385750 IDR

1385750 IDR = 125.56 AUD

So eating every dinner meal out for a week as as a single person is approximately $125 AUD.

This obviously doesn't include drinks (alcohol, juices) but it's interesting just tracking the food.

On Saturday we watched the Grand Final at the same pub we went to the week before. The game itself was awesome until the last quarter. We were sitting up at the bar this time round and we met a nice man from Palm Cove. He was definitely more into his rugby but had a lot of knowledge about the Lions.

We then had a really nice massage before heading out for dinner at The Lawn. I had a beautiful piece of fish and Emma had a pasta.

On Sunday Emma went out herself to do pilates with a friend and I went to the gym. I had a nice cream cheese and salmon bagel for lunch before meeting up with Emma in the afternoon. We headed to Batu Bolong and so had my second surf for the trip this time with earplugs. It was a lot harder to catch waves with no instructor but I got 3 good rides. I also wiped out a few times.

We had a late dinner Sunday night with Emma's friend at a Japanese place called Bokashi. It was a delicious dinner; lots of fresh fish and flavour.

Yikes there were some matches that got ugly here. The USA teams were making so many mistakes in foursomes. Rahm and Rory are so clutch.