Amed

I loved waking up in Amed. We arrived in this peaceful fishing region by bus from sticky-hot Ubud without hotel reservations and completely lucked out with a small villa atop some steep, rocky steps.  We had a perfect view of Jemeluk Bay fringed by the village's red tiled roofs and lush tropical foliage, which was especially beautiful in the early morning.  The calm beauty of this scene will forever be ingrained in my mind (plus, I took about 8000 photos of it - ha!).  We could also see and feel the presence of sacred Mount Agung everywhere we went. The great volcano loomed on the skyline while we napped on the black sand beach, while we snorkelled the vibrant waters, and as we walked along the coast.  

It was hard to leave Amed.

Kuta

Some people come to Kuta, Bali to party but I will always think of Kuta Beach as the place where Peter and I learned to surf.  We went out for the first time at sunset and just as we successfully caught our first small breaks, the sky turned an awesome shade of pink, orange, and yellow, the colours deepening as the minutes wore on.  It was amazing to be in the ocean doing what we were doing at that magical time of day.  In the midst of swallowing a ton of salty sea-water, paddling out with all our might, and attempting to actually ride a wave, I simply had to stop and think about where and how happy I was at that moment.  

When we weren't on the beach, we wandered around the maze of streets around Jalan Legian and made transportation plans for exploring more of Bali.  Kuta was just the beginning!