Today is Wednesday, January 18th, and my second night in Bali. However, I had probably best relate what's happened in the past two weeks before I go on from here.
The last week of school was a bit hectic, as per usual. I got my final reports finished, though, and my two presentations went fairly well. I still don't have my BYU class grade yet, but I think I finished everything that was supposed to factor into it. I was very glad to finally be done with my semester and leave for a vacation.
We had a nice farewell dinner on Friday the 6th - it was on the second floor of the Xiyuan Hotel, right next door to our building, the Zeng Xian Zi Lou, and there were several courses of pretty good food, along with speeches and a slideshow. I got the 'best actor' award for the semester, though I'm not sure how I pulled that one off. Loud British falsetto, maybe. I gave Xin Qiang a couple books and Carcassonne as a present afterwards, and he left. If I'm in Beijing for my internship, I'll try to visit him in Dalian before his semester starts again.
I was planning on packing on Saturday, but Ben hadn't been to Zhong Shan Ling yet, so I biked there with him and took the better part of the day going around the mountain with him and seeing different sites. I sat outside the Ming tombs and wrote my sacrament talk, which got me a few odd looks. My favorite part was the pagoda, which was very tall and had a cool spiral staircase right up the middle. We were both really tired by the end, so we biked down the fastest way and found a place to sell our bikes.
Sunday I spoke in church, said goodbye to everyone, and ditched to pack. Ben and I got a cab to the train station around 5:45 for our 6:39 train (she wouldn't take us until he yelled that he'd pay 100 kuai above the meter), but we made it with Seth and Josef's tickets, thankfully. We got to the Griffiths' house late (getting there with all our luggage was agony, to put it mildly), but Brother Griffiths was up and let us in. They are such wonderful people.
We got an early start the next morning and flew out of Hangzhou to KL that evening. From there, I'll summarize our week in KL. We did the typical touristy things - Petronas (they let you go all the way to the top now, but you have to pay 50 ringgit), Batu caves, Central Market and Petaling Street Bazaar, the Islamic Art and Architecture museum and the National Mosque - but mostly we relaxed, ate good food, saw movies, swam and played. We got through a good chunk of two games of Diplomacy, and all my friends now know how to play Cho Da Di and Oh Heck!
We left for Bali yesterday. Lena (a girl from Shanghai coming with us) got food poisoning on her plane ride to KL on Monday, and they wouldn't let her continue to Bali, so by happy coincidence she ended up on our flight. Good thing, too - after we got in, she got something like lockjaw, and we took her to the hospital right next door to the hotel we were staying at. She's better today, but it was a little intense yesterday.
Our first hotel was modern and sparse and multicolored, called POP! Hotel, Denpasar. The bathrooms were modular units that had a curved sliding door. After leaving, we drove to Mt. Batur and hiked it, after being threatened by the Balinese mafia for not wanting to hire a guide. Apparently it's required, and not doing it is disrespectful to the people and the holy site. Anyway, two guys on motorbikes blocked the path and one guy threatened us with his knife, so we turned back and got another guide.
The volcano itself was spectacular. Lena and Ben turned back halfway (Lena wasn't feeling well, and Ben volunteered to go back with her), but the rest of us made it to the top, and it was incredible. The day was cloudy, and when we got to the top it was nearly covered in fog. We hiked around the caldera on a few foot wide (at best) trail, with steep drops on either side.
After coming down, we drove to Ubud, where we're spending the night at a cool hostel called Nick's Pension, with bungalow-style rooms. Lena got her own room, Jonathan and Josef gracefully took the one with no air con, and Ben, Seth and I are in the air conditioned room. Rafting tomorrow!
The last week of school was a bit hectic, as per usual. I got my final reports finished, though, and my two presentations went fairly well. I still don't have my BYU class grade yet, but I think I finished everything that was supposed to factor into it. I was very glad to finally be done with my semester and leave for a vacation.
We had a nice farewell dinner on Friday the 6th - it was on the second floor of the Xiyuan Hotel, right next door to our building, the Zeng Xian Zi Lou, and there were several courses of pretty good food, along with speeches and a slideshow. I got the 'best actor' award for the semester, though I'm not sure how I pulled that one off. Loud British falsetto, maybe. I gave Xin Qiang a couple books and Carcassonne as a present afterwards, and he left. If I'm in Beijing for my internship, I'll try to visit him in Dalian before his semester starts again.
I was planning on packing on Saturday, but Ben hadn't been to Zhong Shan Ling yet, so I biked there with him and took the better part of the day going around the mountain with him and seeing different sites. I sat outside the Ming tombs and wrote my sacrament talk, which got me a few odd looks. My favorite part was the pagoda, which was very tall and had a cool spiral staircase right up the middle. We were both really tired by the end, so we biked down the fastest way and found a place to sell our bikes.
Sunday I spoke in church, said goodbye to everyone, and ditched to pack. Ben and I got a cab to the train station around 5:45 for our 6:39 train (she wouldn't take us until he yelled that he'd pay 100 kuai above the meter), but we made it with Seth and Josef's tickets, thankfully. We got to the Griffiths' house late (getting there with all our luggage was agony, to put it mildly), but Brother Griffiths was up and let us in. They are such wonderful people.
We got an early start the next morning and flew out of Hangzhou to KL that evening. From there, I'll summarize our week in KL. We did the typical touristy things - Petronas (they let you go all the way to the top now, but you have to pay 50 ringgit), Batu caves, Central Market and Petaling Street Bazaar, the Islamic Art and Architecture museum and the National Mosque - but mostly we relaxed, ate good food, saw movies, swam and played. We got through a good chunk of two games of Diplomacy, and all my friends now know how to play Cho Da Di and Oh Heck!
We left for Bali yesterday. Lena (a girl from Shanghai coming with us) got food poisoning on her plane ride to KL on Monday, and they wouldn't let her continue to Bali, so by happy coincidence she ended up on our flight. Good thing, too - after we got in, she got something like lockjaw, and we took her to the hospital right next door to the hotel we were staying at. She's better today, but it was a little intense yesterday.
Our first hotel was modern and sparse and multicolored, called POP! Hotel, Denpasar. The bathrooms were modular units that had a curved sliding door. After leaving, we drove to Mt. Batur and hiked it, after being threatened by the Balinese mafia for not wanting to hire a guide. Apparently it's required, and not doing it is disrespectful to the people and the holy site. Anyway, two guys on motorbikes blocked the path and one guy threatened us with his knife, so we turned back and got another guide.
The volcano itself was spectacular. Lena and Ben turned back halfway (Lena wasn't feeling well, and Ben volunteered to go back with her), but the rest of us made it to the top, and it was incredible. The day was cloudy, and when we got to the top it was nearly covered in fog. We hiked around the caldera on a few foot wide (at best) trail, with steep drops on either side.
After coming down, we drove to Ubud, where we're spending the night at a cool hostel called Nick's Pension, with bungalow-style rooms. Lena got her own room, Jonathan and Josef gracefully took the one with no air con, and Ben, Seth and I are in the air conditioned room. Rafting tomorrow!
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