Bali

So Bali is of course not part of Vietnam however as it was only a seven day stay, I might as well post it here. So on Sunday Juli and I returned to Ho Chi Minh from Hanoi and early on Monday I would fly to my sister in Bali.

This was not part of the original plan. But I was just not happy traveling by myself through Vietnam. I love my sister. I actually went on a trip through California with my two sisters. So I knew we would be alright. Her husband also didn’t have any problem with me coming and my nephew was really excited. And so was I.

The flight and border control went smoothly. The only stress factor was to get my visa for Vietnam again. I only had a single entry so I needed a new one. Typically it takes 3 days and I had 5 days. But yes it definitely stressed me out.

All in all, I saw my sister end of the afternoon and it was the right decision. So we hang out together. I luckily had a special costume made earplugs for swimming because fluid still came out of it. This also meant a visit to the doctor the next day. Se discovered that there is a hole in my eardrum. So again a lot of pills and no swimming. Eventually, with contact with Dutch specialists, it was decided I could go in the water but have to keep my head above water. Better than nothing!

The next few days we hang out together. Visiting beautiful sites and my nephew loved his little helmet and sitting on the scooter. We also did a lot of swimming, especially when we went from Bali to Gili Air. My sister and brother-in-law saw turtles while snorkeling. In the meantime Ravi and I were chilling together. There are no particular outstanding stories. It was just a happy time.

Way too soon my time here was over. On our last night, we went out for (virgin) cocktails. Still on antibiotics. During the cheers photo, my nephew could not wait any longer. So he started sipping his strawberry milkshake.

My nephew and I are already big friends (although granny is his number one favorite person). But spending so much time with him, I grew very attached, and thus saying goodbye was hard for us both. I’m not saying who, but there were some tears.