Day 87: Bali, continued.

Note: I went through and did some revision on day 85 ( I was reaaaaaaally tired when I wrote it before.) Today is the next installment.

They walked through the archway of their hotel and decided to try a different hotel for the second night. Packing two small suitcases, they paid their $23.00 bill (rejoicing at each other over the price), and then climbed into a waiting taxi and told him the same thing they'd told the driver the night before: hotel?

This driver pulled up in front of another almost unbelievable beautiful, spacious hotel. It had carved stone dragons spouting fountains into green pools. The floors were cool tile. The price was $22.00 a night. It was official: they had found heaven.

Upon arriving in the most luxurious $22.00 room in the world, they noticed a small sign on the night stand that said "Balinese Massage available, upon request, in your suite. Please call." They had no idea what a Balinese massage was, but it sounded lovely, so they decided to treat themselves. Picking up the phone, and dialing the in-house number, a man picked up saying "Laundry." She replied, "Oh, sorry. I was trying to call the number for the massage." "Oh" he said, "I can give you a massage." Confused she asked, "You do the massages for the hotel?" After a slight pause, "Sure!" She booked for 3:30, hurriedly hung up the phone, looked at Georgia, and made plans to be far away from the hotel at that time.

Back into the streets, wandering around Kuta and feeling miserable at the sight of a completely unexotic and conspicious Kentucky Fried Chicken, they decided to step into a "Nail Parlor and Spa" that advertized Balinese massage for $15.00. Afterwards, she was unable to decide if what she had received was a good representative of "Balinese massage" since it consisted of laying on a rubber mattress while a tiny Balinese woman timidly poked her feet and legs with two fingers. Separated by a drawn sheet, she could hear Georgia receiving her chosen Swedish massage with comments like "Are you sure this is the Swedish massage package? Because it feels different than any Swedish massage I've had before...." Laying on her back, covered by a sheet, the timid masseuse asked her if she wanted the Balinese salt scrub treatment. She thought "When in Rome!" Suddenly, the towel disappeared, and she received a humiliating all over salt pummicing that left her skin burning and her face blushing. So that was Balinese massage.

That afternoon, as they sat on the beach, they decided to head into the interior of the country the next day, and visit a city called Ubud. They wanted to get away from the night clubs and jigolos of Kuta Beach, and see more of what the rest of the country had to offer. Their plan was to take a group taxi the next morning to Ubud, and plan to join a group for an expedition down mild Class 2 rapids on the Ayung River. From there--who knew? They would make up their minds as they went along.