Strap in for this one. Sanur may as well be on a different planet from the rest of Bali. It's basically everything Bali should be, but is not. Nice people, nice beach, affordable, easy to walk around - it's the perfect community to sit on the beach and do nothing. It reminds me a lot of Hua Hin in Thailand, actually.

We only had one day there, because although I like the beach, I get bored after a few hours. And it's actually pretty close to the capital of Bali, Denpesar. Since it was still morning, we took a taxi into the city to see the Bali Museum, which by itself is pretty unimpressive. But in a way, Denpesar is pretty unimpressive. I'm glad we went, just to see how regular Balinese outside of the tourist circuit live. But honestly, there's nothing to do there. We even tried to go to the Denpesar "Palace", but it looked closed and we were greeted by a very angry stray dog. We found a local that said we were in the right place, but it looked more like someone's home. And that dog, which will become larger and angrier every time I tell this story, was wanting to tear our faces off if we came closer. I've already had one close brush with rabies. I'll pass. So, Denpesar... give it a pass.

Back in Sanur, we finally got a beach experience we wanted. We just walked up and down the boardwalk, drinking a beer and admiring the view. I will give the beach one thing - it can get boring, but something about the waves, music, and people there make you forgot about everything that's bothering you.

Which didn't last long.

We were eating pizza at a restaurant (sidenote - we have eaten pizza for I think half our meals on this trip. I guess Ella is not a fan of Indonesian food). Anyway, suddenly I get that feeling like I'm dizzy, which makes me wonder if I am drunk. But then I look at a light and it's shaking.

Oh, we're having an earthquake.

Right, remember Taiwan. It's not the shaking, it's the stuff that falls from the shaking. So I look around. We're on a patio, there's nothing above us. If the roof nearby fell, it wouldn't reach us in a worst case scenario. And by this time, the ten second quake was already pretty much over. Now we can continue to eat our pizza, and have a laugh about our little tremor, right?

Right?

No. Everyone else wanted to freak out, and there was a stampede to get out of the restaurant. I can understand being a bit frightened if it was your first earthquake, but honesty it was pretty mild and already over. But we were near the "exit", of this patio, and I thought "Well, won't I look stupid if I'm the only person to not leave." So I stand up, and gesture to Ella to make our way outside. As we're in the crowd, I turn around and Ella was grabbing the last slice of her pizza and scarf. Hey, priorities.

Anyway it was no big deal, and the owner came out and said, "It's okay, this is Bali, it happens all the time!" And it wasn't for us. And we didn't know it at the time, but it was a big deal in Lombok, about 80km away. Since about 300 locals died, it made front page news around the world - which should be the only thing anyone cares about.

This event was interesting for me, because I got to see how the media reported a story I had "first" hand knowledge about. And it taught me a lot. First, they really don't check sources as much as they should. I saw this one Australian celebrity's tweets (plural!) plastered on a bunch of news about how they were clearly about to die. In other words, "Please pay attention to me, guys." The earthquake was over in a flash. By the time she tweeted it was long over. The only headline for that should be, "Celebrity desperate to stay relevant"

Second, saying things like "Bali Rocked By Earthquake" is technically true, but me being a published writer is also, in the loosest sense. I'm not going to go full "fake news" crazy and say media is the enemy of the people, but it has caused me to realize sensationalism and yellow journalism is more prevelant than I thought. In fact, Bali is a non-story completely, here. And I think somewhat insulting to Lombok.

Third, and the most upsetting to me personally, is how they were reporting "Tsunami possible". Technically running into Bill Gates on the street and us rocking out on guitar while he gives me a billion dollars is "possible". But as I'm sitting in my hotel room on the beach, the official Indonesian agency says "No tsunami", and the BBC says "tsunami possible", it causes one to get a bit worried.

I thought it was kind of a moot point since we're so close, if there was a tsunami it would have been there in minutes, and people would be getting out of Dodge. But still, partially to calm myself I asked Ella to go for a walk with me to see if things were normal. And they were, so much so Ella decided to look at this little jewelry store. She got a bracelet, so now we have a constant reminder of that dumb earthquake.

Anyway the next morning we get off of this island, to go see Yogyakarta. Which sounds like a frozen yogurt truck, but actually has Indonesia's most famous attraction.