Last Full Day in Bali

So today is my last full day in this tropical paradise. I am sad to leave it, but eager to see some familiar faces for a change. You meet lots of people when you're traveling alone, but friends you meet on the road just aren't the same as long-time friends back home. Some of the folks I've met (or met up with) with since my last blog update include:

• A really cool guy named Chris and his wife Liz from Sydney... Chris is in the biscuit business in Australia. We did the Tanah Lot sunset tour on my last night up in Ubud.
• My friends Matt & Ryan (from the UK and Canada, respectively) that I was trying to meet up with since I got here. We had a big night out clubbing last Saturday night, though I haven't seen them since. I think they went to Lombok.
• An extremely attractive Indonesian girl named Nora (from Lombok) that I've been hanging out with for the past couple of days. She wants me to take her back to America in my luggage... heh... yeahhhh.
• A surprisingly cool Frenchman, though I can't remember his name. Met him and some of his friends out clubbing at M Bar Go, where they were showing Jackass on a giant screen above the dance floor...
• A girl from Japan who I also can't remember her name... she did the Tanah Lot tour with us and was flying solo like me.
• My friend Shaz from Perth who I saw earlier in my trip. We caught up over dinner last night and she helped me get some incredible prices on replica Rolexes and Gucci watches for my family.

So I definitely haven't been alone, but I miss everybody back home, and I'm definitely ready to get back to PDX.

Really quickly, some of the things I've been up to since my last update:

• The Tanah Lot sunset tour from Ubud. This started with a great view of the Ayung river valley, then a talk with a Batik painter in a nearby village who showed us his technique and his paintings, then a visit to one of Bali's most important landlocked temples (about 400 years old), then a visit to yet another sacred Monkey Forest (and home to the giant bats of Bali), then ended with the sunset at Bali's most photographed temple, Pura Tanah Lot, on the coast. (The sunset itself wasn't the most spectacular I've seen here, unfortunately.)
• A snorkeling tour down in Nusa Dua. This started with a glass-bottomed boat ride around the Benoa Harbor area, followed by snorkeling in the Indian Ocean (saw some fantastic fish, can't wait to do this again in Hawaii), followed by the Turtle Farm, where I saw the biggest turtle I've ever seen, along with snakes/bats/giant lizards/toucan sam/more monkeys/etc.
• Two epic nights out clubbing. M Bar Go was definitely the best club here at the moment, as it was even packed on a Monday night. That's where I met the Frenchman and his friends, and Nora. The club Double Six is a close second... thousands of clubbers pack into that place on the weekends, but it's dead during the week. It's also where they have the AJ Hackett bungy jump school.

I was going to go parasailing and jetskiing today with Shaz (for incredibly cheap), but came down with a slight cold last night and decided to sleep in instead...

Anyway, this may be my last update before I get home. It's been a fantastic trip, and I can't wait to come back... next time with friends or family to share it with!