Days 10-11 (July 27-28, 2014): Homeward Bound!

All good things must come to an end.  Sigh.  But that reality is made all the easier when you're heading home to a place that is AWESOME, like Nova Scotia.

Our feet hit the floor at 6:30am, and we were on the beach a few minutes later to see the sun rise.  There's something about a deserted beach at sunrise that makes you realize how amazing our planet is.

We had a few administrative items to take care of before our last buffet breakfast.  So it was 8:45am before we were at the omelette station in El Patio, the Melia's breakfast restaurant.  The gamelon player was there again to greet us with sweet Indonesian sounds!

There is an excellent art gallery / museum, "Pacifika", next to the Melia, which opens at 10am.  We were there as the doors opened.  A really good collection of Indonesian art by everyone from Dutch to French to Indo-Chinese artists.  As you travel the globe, the similarities of life in every country strike you, as well as how cultures have evolved in every country.  Take ceremonial masks, for example:  every ancient culture had them in some shape or other.  And Indonesia was no exception. 

We also saw replicas at the gallery of two of the scary characters featured in last night's cultural performance. One reminded us of Mr. snuffleupagus (Sesame Street fame) and the other, Freddie Kruger from Elm Street. What do you think?

By 11am, we were starting our last beach day.  The tide was still high enough for a good swim, so we both went in.  How we wish our local Halifax beaches had water this easy to slide into!

The hotel was good enough to let us continue using the facilities until our cab picked us up at 3pm.  We took a quick Italian lunch in one of the restaurants, got cleaned up and ready for our 38-hour door-to-door trek home, and climbed into our taxi, which was driven by Ngurah's brother (our driver yesterday).

The routing home is Denpasar (Bali) via Air Asia to Singapore.  Then aboard the spiffy Singapore Airlines double-decker Airbus A-380 to London. 

Then good ole' Air Canada over the Atlantic to Halifax, to complete our 11-day round-the-world trip, with an anticipated arrival on Monday afternoon.

Assuming all will go according to schedule, tomorrow night will be spent in our own bed at home.

Thanks so much for tuning into this blog!  It's been fun sharing it, and hopefully, not too onerous to read.  Happy travels to all.