Here's me trying to look innocent as "The Korean Monkey" slipped bananas into my bag for later. The other day he took 2 bananas, today he took much more, and the hotel staff totally knew it but they don't mind. We're definitely not the only ones.

Today he took: 5 bananas, 2 yogurts, 7 Babybell cheeses, and 3 yogurt drinks.

My silly Korean monkey with his temporary henna tattoo from yesterday.

Highlights of my Day... Sunday, January 31

1. We’ve been spending way too much time at the pool and I say this not because of the daily wrinkly fingers I’m getting from being in the water so long but because of the “interesting” people we’ve been meeting at the pool. The scariest of these people being three Russians – a middle aged man with two women who we thought were his daughters until we witnessed quite the kiss.

2. Made friends today with a Turkish couple that has moved to Holland and were on vacation with their one-and-a-half year old daughter. Snickers’ jaw practically dropped when I told him that they recommended us to wait 3-5 years before even considering having a child. “Three to five years?!” he blurted out. My parents waited 7 years before they started their family and this shocked Snickers too. Koreans tend to be fast with starting a family right after getting married. “… well Sweetie” I noted, “… that’s all good but not all of us think it appropriate to live with our parents like children once we get married.”

3. Peed in the pool… yes, that’s right. I totally did it and Snickers totally acted like my look-out man… hahaha. I totally blame it on Snickers though who I had warned him that if he continued to tickle me that I’d pee my pants.

4. After kicking Snickers’ cute Korean butt at ping-pong, several card games, and the various swimming races we had in the pool, he challenged me to a game of tennis. I’ve played tennis before but I don’t really know the rules.

5. Ok, ok… so Snickers’ beat my Polish butt at tennis but that’s only because I bailed on him. Ever since our little scooter slide-across-the-ice accident my wrist has been acting up and hitting the tennis ball with the racket definitely felt uncomfortable.

6. Ended up paying one of the resort workers to play a friendly game of tennis with Snickers and I went jogging.

7. While I was out jogging, I came across a resort that was setting up for a rather large wedding, so before we headed out for dinner we stopped by to check it out.

8. There on the beach were table and numerous chairs filled with people all celebrating a very elaborate evening wedding. The bride and groom were East Asian and were dressed from head to toe in gold and red fabrics. They looked beautiful, unfortunately though because it was too dark and we weren’t really supposed to be there in the first place, we couldn’t really get any clear pictures of the wedding.

9. For dinner, we ventured out of the resort and stopped by a local restaurant where Snickers was asked if he was Park Ji Sung, the famous Korean soccer player… hahaha.

10. So far our honeymoon has been everything opposite of our wedding day – perfect. Snickers has been a total gentleman to me and we’ve been having so much fun. We've been the obvious envy of many older married couples who have voiced their envy to us and giving us continual wedding blessings. It’s the rainy season here in Bali, meaning it rains everyday, but as luck would have it it’s only rained in the morning or the late night when we’ve been sleeping. I totally hit the jackpot with picking this resort and besides the slight sunburn we both scored on the second day here, I wouldn’t change a thing. Not thinking about Korea and being totally stress free has been an easy thing here.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Could it get any better?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Vacation: a period of travel and relaxation when you take twice the clothes and half the money you need.
-- Author Unknown

Simply put, we ARE perfectly made for each other... hahaha.

Highlights of my Day... Saturday, January 30

1. While waiting for the free shuttle bus to Sogo Snickers turned into quite the paparazzi, telling me stand here, sit there, and so on. I had asked him to take pictures of the main lobby of the hotel but he ended up taking like a billion pictures of me in the lobby. It was like playing “Where’s Waldo?” but only “Where’s Amy in the lobby?”

2. Heading into Sogo for shopping… and couple massages!!! We had specifically told them that we wanted massages that “hurt so much they felt good”. Snickers gives me massages religiously – foot massages, hand massages, shoulder massages, even tummy massages – and so he’s set the standard pretty high with regards to what I like. And, like the first massage we got in Bali, it took some convincing on my behalf to get him to go for a massage. He doesn’t particularly like people touching him, especially when all that’s separating him from their hands is a pair of disposable panties that were frightfully ugly and inappropriately sized… hahaha.

3. Discovered a Starbucks in Bali and as much as I am anti-Starbucks, I gave in to my coffee craving and bought a cup. Bali may be known for it’s coffee but I was craving a iced-coffee and, well, Bali’s hot coffee just couldn’t satisfy me at that weak moment.

4. I have to laugh at the whole coffee thing here. Snickers and I love our daily cup of coffee together and so were sure to stuff some packs of Korean mocha coffee into our suitcase. Earlier on today Snickers offered some of our Korean coffee to the older couple neighboring our hotel room. They’re from Australia and have been coming to Bali every year for 27 years. They were more than pleased to accept our Korean coffee packs, they congratulated us on our recent marriage and then we chatted about things like children and differences between countries. We particularly focused on the topic of children. In Korea, Snickers is always tugging on the shoes of little ones as their parents cradle them in their arms, saying silly things to kids in stores, and tickling babies in strollers. I too am guilty of this but Korea is ok with it. If anything, Korean parents seem to be proud when random people show their children affection. I had warned Snickers about the foreigners in Bali though, telling him that Korea is Korea and things are different outside of it. My point was proven today when I approached the fruit table at the buffet. A little foreign boy was playing with the spoon I needed to use to scoop some watermelon on my plate. His father was standing nearby and so I waited, but his father totally ignored the situation, so I placed my hand on the back of the little boy’s head of blond curls and said, “Wow, you’ve got to be the cutest worker at this resort. Would you mind to give me some watermelon? Be sure to pick me out the most delicious too!” Instantly, the father turned around, grabbed the boy’s wrist and gave me a look as if to say I had done something so disgustingly wrong. I felt so embarrassed at his look but what was more embarrassing was that I dropped my plate. It smashed to a billion pieces and all my fruit went flying.

5. Snickers’ nose is peeling like there’s no tomorrow and it’s super cute but my hair, that I had just dyed ash brown before this trip, has gone platinum blond!

6. At Sogo, after we got our couple massages, we walked around to do some snack shopping. Snickers wanted to get a temporary henna tattoo and I scored a deal on getting my nails done.

7. For dinner, we checked out this rocking restaurant that raved about it’s live music and selection of all-you-can-eat BBQ meats. Snickers is all about the all-you-can-eats. He definitely eats more than his share of the bill and is definitely one of those customers that leaves the managers regretting the option.

8. The thing that was so cool about this restaurant was the fact that the male waiters walked around with massive chunks of BBQ meat. Snickers was given a card that was green on one side, red on the other side, so as long as he had the green side flipped up these guys with massive chunks of meat would randomly come to our table and slice of part of the meat unto his plate.

9. Turns out the live music that people raved about was what scared Snickers and I from ever venturing to that restaurant again, despite it’s over-the-top delish meat. I’m not too sure if this is an East Asia thing or not, because I saw that it was popular in Thailand too, but I see no attraction or interest in watching a man in drag sing on a stage. I’m not too sure if he… he/she… was a full on transvestite or not but it didn’t matter to us; he/she was scary. The table of Chinese men were loving it though.

Me trying to avoid the scary entertainment but trying to also take a picture of him... her... it?!

Boo to the scary entertainment.

10. Snickers scored the label “The Korean Monkey” tonight by a little Russian girl who had taken the same shuttle bus back to the resort. We spotted her looking at pictures on her camera of her trip to one of the local monkey forests and so Snickers thought he’d make a monkey face at her.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why do so many people try so hard to be something or someone they're not?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.
-- Judy Garland

Posing for one more picture for the day...

... okay, enough with the pictures. Let's eat!!!

Highlights of my Day... Friday, January 29

1. Today’s plan was to lounge at the pool and then go sunset fishing. We definitely got the lounging part done and mastered but we decided to do some bargain shopping for some hats before our little fishing adventure.

2. For the most part, nothing in Bali really comes with a set price and that’s the beauty of it. Sellers start off by telling you to look at this or look at that. They even go so far as to either follow you down the street or grab your wrist to stop you from walking away. So today when we found two straw hats we wanted to buy, it was game on with the bargaining… hahaha. Scored two hats for half the price the seller started off with.

3. Off to sunset fishing we went. The fishing company picked us up at our resort and then we were joined by three others; the boat driver and two other fishermen, all Indonesian and from Bali.

4. Apparently 70% of Bali’s workforce works directly with tourists but it still was a surprise for Snickers and I to hear our boat captain practice random Korean words that he had picked up here and there. We ended up teaching him some other words, most of which were slang.

5. Snickers is all about doing active things outdoors but apparently it was his tummy wasn’t liking today’s fishing trip. They had taken us out far into the ocean and I was loving it, but when we stopped the boat Snickers turned to me and looked rather pale.

6. He never did end up getting sick and toss his cookies, or so to speak. He never did catch any fish either.

7. I, however, caught two fish! My competitor, one of the two fishermen that had come along with us, kicked my Polish butt though by catching four.

8. Out on the ocean Snickers and I cuddled up on the boat to watch the sun go down; it was beautiful. Our attempt at catching “the big one” failed miserably and my two fish caught were hardly worth keeping to eat but our trip out on the ocean was perfect.

9. We dined at a local restaurant where they asked us if we wanted them to cook up my fish. I declined but instead told them they could keep them. They smiled.

10. As for the rest of the evening, we headed back to our resort, washed off all the bait guts from our clothes and skin and then we went swimming. Late night swimming and splashing around in the pool was followed by room service delivered to our back patio where Snickers and I amused ourselves by playing “Go Fish”… hahaha.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What better way could you possibly spend the day?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
If you want to be happy, be.
-- Leo Tolstoy

The backflip, not dive, that got a French lady all in a huff... hahaha.

Snickers and I were like two kids in a candy shop at the pool. We had so much fun and definitely added a lot of "interest" to the pool scene... hahaha.

Highlights of my Day... Thursday, January 28

1. Waking up every morning to a man who greets me with a smile and an omelet specially made for me is pretty sweet, I must admit it. I’m definitely loving this breakfast buffet deal and so is Snickers… and so are the fish! Hahaha…

2. Spent our morning indulging in a couple massage. They had us strip down to these skimpy one-use panties, of which I must note that the back was the same as the front (barely there) and so I had a good giggle seeing Snickers wearing them. The panties were hilarious but the massage was nothing short of relaxing.

3. Our morning massage was followed by lounging around the pool and then playing ping-pong. There’s two ping-pong tables outside our hotel room and so it was oh-so tempting to play. I’m proud to say that yes, I did kick Snickers’ butt at ping-pong… hahaha.

4. Ping-pong was followed by exercising. Snickers went and did weight-training at the resort gym while I did laps in the resort’s lap pool, and then exercising was followed by swimming and splashing around in another one of the resort’s pools.

5. I made friends with an older French couple at the pool while Snickers got yelled at for slashing around too much. “No diving!” yelled a proud French woman at Snickers. “It’s called a back flip.” I said in his defense. “Wow.. she English is badder than mine” Snickers added… hahaha.

6. So far I’ve been sticking to speaking mainly Korean. Yesterday I practiced my Japanese and French, and today I got to practice my Polish when Snickers and came across a group of overly-hyper Polish people at one of the neighboring resorts along our beach walk. We first spotted them in the pool but later on we spotted them playing volleyball. I taught Snickers how to say “good” in Polish and so he yelled it out. All eyes turned on him, a Korean dude speaking Polish. We all had a good giggle over that.

7. Discovering an over-sized game of chess and a secluded hammock that fit the two of us super snug made for quite the interesting afternoon.

You can call me "Queen Kim" now... hahaha.

Interesting sign.

Another temple... and another totally Korean pose... hahaha.

8. Originally, I was contemplating getting married in Bali but after a quick glimpse of the costs involved I quickly ditched that idea. None the less, it was very interesting to see the chapel that I had my eye on. It was perched up on a wall of water and the chapel consists of all windows and a very long, very beautiful isle that is bordered by water. Mind ya, it was bordered off because they were preparing for a wedding that night and so I didn’t get to walk the isle. I didn’t have an isle to walk down in my own wedding and I couldn’t even so much walk down this one just for fun… boo to that.

Surprisingly enough, seeing this chapel that I so had my heart set on was both a happy and sad occasion. I regret not having an isle to walk down on my so-called wedding day but seeing the isle that I really wanted to walk down was hard. Snickers tried to make me smile though by promising me that we'll come back here one day to renew our vows and so I'll get my walk down the isle.

9. Every hour a free shuttle bus goes around the neighboring resorts, picks people up and then takes them to a shopping area called “Sogo”. Today Snickers and I hoped on this bus. We thought we’d indulge in a local restaurant and I was sure Snickers’ would enjoy it. Turns out Snickers eats everything but there’s a catch. The catch being that he eats everything if it’s Korean food, which meant his seafood dish was barely touched… it definitely touched my pocket book though, just enough to put a little dent in it mind ya.

10. Returned to our resort to go swimming yet again. The waiter at the fancy restaurant where we had eaten at last night greeted me and so I stopped to ask him what time the pools close. “You’re on your honeymoon… have fun!” and so we took that as a go-ahead, jumped in the pool, and we didn’t get out till about midnight.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
When am I going to be able to have an official "walk"?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

What's a picture of a Korean with out the notorious "kimchi fingers"?!... hahaha.

I opted not to sport the "kimchi fingers" here and instead wanted the picture to focus on the temple offerings. Mind ya, I can't help but think that little girl in the picture definitely stole the picture spotlight. She was so cute!!!

Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, January 27

1. At 7am our wake-up call called me but with my gorgeous hubby and I all snuggled in our duvet blanket with the sound of the ocean waves in the background, I thanked them for the call but went back to sleep.
2. Cashing in on the resort’s breakfast buffet was another smart move on my part. It was held in a restaurant that was surrounded on two sides by a beautiful pond so this meant that not only did Snickers and I eat well but so did the fish… hahaha. With every other piece of food that Snickers’ put in his mouth he threw one piece to the fish.

3. No need for our early morning exercise considering we spent most of our day walking around and swimming. Our resort bordered the ocean and so there were plenty of resorts nearby that also lined the beach. We had hit the jackpot with our resort, for sure.

4. While out and about venturing around the beach, Snickers and I came across this abandoned piece of land at the end of the peninsula. It looked like some kind of park or something and so we went venturing into it. No one but two local boys fishing were there, mind ya, there were plenty of geckos!!! No sooner did I pose for a picture but then a massive iguana. We would have snapped a picture of it had it not totally taken us off guard and totally spooked us… hahaha.

5. Got mistaken for a celebrity and was asked to pose with a family for a photo. Definitely a funny moment.

6. We had only been in Bali for a day and already both Snickers and I scored serious tan lines. Actually, it was on the verge of a sunburn but I didn’t care. I was on my honeymoon and was having the time of my life with my best friend/ hubby.

7. Yikes!!! And to think I slaved like a madwoman weeks before my honeymoon to make sure I was bikini-body ready. Spending most of the afternoon at the pool was accompanied with me kicking my own butt with a bit of frustrations. I’m all for the notion that beauty comes in all shapes, sizes and colours and I'm all for people enjoying themselves and life but dang! Damn!!! Both Snickers and I agreed that there should be some kind of age-appropriate, size limits and whatnot with some of the bathing suits that we noted were being sported in Bali. I saw what looked like someone’s grandmother in a thong bikini, a father wearing an over-sized leopard panty-like bathing suit that even his daughter looked afraid of it falling off him, and a whole lot of other “eye-burners” (the new term we made up) sporting things that the naked eye should be protected against.

Bali is spotted with numerous random temples because of their extreme devotion to their religion. You can find a temple just about any where and every where. Here is one temple we found in a deserted park.

8. Enough of watching the foreign freak show at the pool, to each their own but my eyes felt like they were burning and so Snickers and I headed to a local market for shopping. The locals were like vultures and so we kept up with our “Korean-only” rule when we were around them. We never did buy anything more than some snacks and groceries to bring back to our hotel.

9. Returned to our resort. The resort was loaded to the brim with Russians but I got a chance to practice my French and Japanese when we decided to go swimming again. I only know a bit of Japanese and I don’t remember all that I learned in French class but it scored us some so-called “resort friends” for the time being.

10. It was an obvious that Snickers and I were honeymooners and so we got plenty of envy looks and random words of congrats from resort staff and others who were vacationing at our resort. We decided to have a bit of a celebration for our new life together and so off we headed to a beautiful romantic restaurant at the resort. We had fish and steak for dinner but the best was the dessert. Our waiter presented us with an assortment of bananas all cooked differently. It looked beautiful but was also oh-so delish!!!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
To each their own, right?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Tough and funny and a little bit kind: that is as near to perfection as a human being can be.
~Mignon McLaughlin