Hello Bali! First Day in Paradise

Continuing the jetlag extremes, M, A and I got up around 5am after getting to bed around 1am. Shortly thereafter, T joined us and V continued to sleep. Unlike the rest of us, V had a full day of work and travel the day before. Plus, Bali is in the same time zone as Singapore. I got a skype call from my bf and was just so happy to hear his voice. The 12-hour difference has made it difficult to connect. Anyway, the girls and I headed to breakfast at the villa and took pics of the surroundings. Outside the villa walls is much more developed than I expected but the natural smell of Bali (can't tell if it is from coconut trees, the various food offerings sprinkled throughout the island for the gods, or another plant) permeates throughout. A few of us took a quick dip around the pool in our villa. We then got ready for our day trip in the Southern part of Bali.
 
Our driver Wayan picked us up around 12:30pm and he took us to the sea and rock temple called Tanah Lot. The various temples were constructed by carving the large rock structures and some are only accessible in low tide.  By paying a few rupiah, we got blessed, which included getting rice put on our foreheads and necks and receiving a flower for our hair. By 2pm, we were craving lunch but had no reasonable time to stop, so we just headed to our next destination, Jimbaran beach for dinner.
  

The hotel made reservations for us at a restaurant called Ganesha, but honestly it could have been any on the strip since they were all very similar.  V&I took the job of picking the fishes for dinner. At this part of town, you simply pick your seafood, they weigh it, you choose how you want it cooked (grilled, fried or broiled) and you pay per kilo. We kinda went crazy with the ordering. We ended up getting about 1kilo each of jumbo prawn, clams, giant squid, and red snapper. They served us some rice, greens and sauces (yum, Bali sauce and chili sauce!) and we watched the sun start to come down from our beach-side table. We only spent about $25 each but we probably could have bargained for a lower price.
  
Our next destination was the infamous Rock Bar, which is situated on a cliff overlooking the water. We only had 1 hour until Wayan had to pick us up to get to our next appointment so it was quite possibly the shortest trip to that bar ever. First of all, you walk through fountains, pools and stores to get to the entrance. Then you must wait on a line to get to the 8-person capacity elevator/incline to get down to the bar. Once you make it down, you must put your party on a guest list for a table. It didn't help that we tried to get in at sundown, one of the most popular times of the day. As soon as we got to our table, we ordered our $15 drinks (a little bit better than Singapore drink prices but ridiclously expensive by Bali standards), took pics and soaked up the atmosphere in about 20 minutes.
  
Our next destination was the spa Jari Menari for our 90-minute massage appoinmtment. All the masseuses here are men, which is unsettling at first but you can't even tell once the massage starts. M spotted a giant cockroach in the shower stall... yikes! But it was otherwise a smooth experience. I rarely get massages and when I do, I am way too tense to enjoy it. Even though the deep tissue stuff was never completely comfortable, I still managed to fall asleep in the final moments. When I was done, I found out that A and M also fell asleep. We walked home from our exhausting and fulfilling day, thankful and completely relaxed. :)