The next morning we wanted to assure we caught the ferry, so we skipped the temple in Amlapura, and headed for Padang Bai, where there was a ferry we could drive our scooters on to take us to Nusa Penida, a beautiful island seated to the southwest of the main island of Bali. We went down a crazy steep road where our brakes were engaged the entire time; Mark’s GPS wouldn’t send him that way but my scooter directions allowed us to take that crazy path. We snagged some food and overheard people talking in English and knew we were getting closer to the touristy stuff, but it was all a part of the journey. We arrived and got into the queue for the ferry. A guy with long hair and Chinese Pit Viper rip offs helped us out, and when I told him he looked like a cool guy and gave him a sticker, he asked if I remembered him from last time?! I had indeed been here, and he looked like the kind of person I probably would have chatted with last time too.
Upon our arrival to the island, we found a hostel that was infested with DNB Brits the first night, making human totem poles that easily toppled over in the pool at night. They also made a tower of all the plastic cups they consumed, to make sure everyone knew how drunk they really were. We headed out from the hostel, booked a dive for Mark the next day, and went to the southwest corner of the island, to see the cliff of Atuh beach, a breathtaking view. We hiked down the cliff side to the water and swam with some jellyfish, and we worked on getting a base tan on the skin known as the “farmers tan.” We saw some more temples on the scooter ride back, and watched a man drive over a poor wild dog.
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