Winding down...Two days and counting...Favorite photos begin today!

This local woman we encountered on our walks spent her days making small offering baskets from these leaves. Note the basket in her hands. She always said hello as we walked by.

"Sightings on the Beach in Bali"

Watching the buffaloes walk along the beach never stopped giving us a thrill. Where do you see such a thing?

Its hard for us to believe we’re leaving the villa in less than 48 hours. These past four months (with a two month gap in between where we visited Southeast Asia) have been an extraordinary experience leaving memories we’ll always carry with us. Prior to our first of two visits to Bali beginning on April 30th we’d heard passengers mention they didn’t care for Bali.

Now, after these many months, we understand their hesitancy if they’d only visited the traffic congested Denpasar. Having spent this extended period far from the crowds, traffic, crime and commotion we have an entirely different perspective.

On both occasions of our arrival at the villa the staff presented us with chilled washcloths and sweet tea. Tom drank both glasses.

As we finalize the collection all of our belongings scattered around the house, its evident how settled we’ve become during these past months. Its been easy to meld into this peaceful and relaxing environment.

As always, we’re using any remaining groceries we’ve accumulated including the last of the mince (ground beef) we’d purchased in Denpasar upon our arrival. Last night, the two Ketuts made one of our favorite grain, sugar and starch free, low carb recipes, Mushroom Burger Scramble, which we found years ago at this favorite site. Thanks, Linda!

Mom and baby on the side of the road.

The leftover meat made enough for three nights which we’ll have again tonight and tomorrow evenings, our last meals at the villa. The amazing two cooks have added considerable pleasure to this experience in many ways as well as their careful preparation of meals suitable for my way of eating.

Gede and the two Ketuts have asked when we’ll return. As we often say, “We have lots of world left to see.” Its unlikely we’ll return to this location, although the 33 night upcoming cruise will dock for a day in Benoa, Bali, on November 11th, an area we’ve yet to see. Most likely, we’ll take the tender (small boat) to shore to check it out.

Evening view of the gorgeous cabana. We spent many days under this cabana watching for sightings on the beach.

This upcoming cruise returns to several ports of call we’ve already visited. We’ll decide later as to which we’ll see again, perhaps some of those in the larger cities we’d previously visited in Australia and New Zealand.

I suppose after awhile there will be less and less ports of call throughout the world we haven’t visited at least once but now, we’re a long way away from that eventuality, even after 14 cruises.

The beautifully hand painted fishing boats in the harbor in Negara.

This upcoming back-to-back cruise counts as two booked cruises. On November 16th we’ll arrive in Perth/Fremantle where we’ll meet up with friends Michelle and Carlo for the day.

At that point many of the 2500 passengers will disembark entirely, while new passengers come aboard. Many of the booked passengers we’ve encountered at the Cruise Critic message boards have booked the two cruises combined, as a back-to-back cruise, like us. What a fabulous opportunity to make more new friends!

The two Ketuts and Ribut were proud of the big tuna the girls had found at the early morning market. It was delicious!

At this point, we’re not concerned about our luggage weight and airline fees. Once we arrive and settle at the hotel in Kuta we’ll review the contents of our luggage, weighing them on the travel scale and pay the appropriate baggage fees online. For now, we’re just packing neatly.

Mine is more stuffed than usual with the recent purchases of a number of Balinese items. I’ve decided to wait to determine which old items need to be tossed once we’re in air con at the hotel. Right now its so hot and humid, I have little motivation to tackle that task.

A Blue Kingfisher atop a palm tree on the villa's grounds.

Today, we’re beginning to post our “favorite photos” which we'll continue through Monday, the day we'll post the final expenses for this second round in Bali. We’ll provide the link to the expenses for the first two months in Bali if you’d like to make the expense comparison.

So far, as I prepare these numbers for both the final post in two days and to update our expense spreadsheet, it appears the totals will be similar, except for the recent four night stay in Lovina at the Puri Bagus resort and the recent clothing purchases both online and locally.

The worried look on his face made us laugh.

Heavy rain clouds are rolling in as we speak. Yesterday, we missed pool time when it rained all afternoon. Hopefully, today and tomorrow, we’ll be able to enjoy a little more time in the glorious infinity pool before we must be on our way.

Have a glorious day of your own!

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Photo from one year ago today, October 22, 2015: