Bali, that's the stuff dreams are made
of. What have I heard about Bali before this trip? It's great for
beaching, surfing, partying and yes, some terrorist attacks happened
here too. It's apparently full with Aussies, since it's closer to
Perth than Sydney and it's the one island in Indonesia that's Hindu
and where practically everything (and more) tourists love is allowed.
And recently it's supposedly also great to find Love, or at least a
bestseller book says so.
Since we just got to Kuta, Julia and I
decide to stay one more night before leaving. First is to get ALL my
laundry done (just in case some fleas/bedbugs) are stuck somewhere.
Eeeew! Next I have to pick up some flight tickets I booked with a
local agency a dive shop recommended. For whatever reason these
tickets just weren't bookable online. While trying to find the Agency
we take a wrong turn and involuntarily see almost every nook and
crannie of Kuta searching for it. There's plenty of charming stores
for souvenirs and just stuff in general. And yes, there's a surf shop
everywhere. After getting my tickets we head for the beach and yes it
seems it's (beginner) surfer paradise. Most people are running around
with one injury or the other, showing that they've done some surfing
course. There's big waves and smaller waves but constantly waves. The
beach does lack most infrastructure you are used to from tourist
beaches but it is a nice beach and you can watch surfers. None of the
surfers there that day are any good, all really just trying out but
the waves make swimming an exhausting exercise. After some hours
tanning and swimming, a quick lunch and refreshing we are out for
shoooopping. Well it's more window shopping but it's fun anyway.
After checking prices on Shuttle buses, Taxis and tickets we
spontaneously decide to rent a car, not because we are keen on
driving in Bali, just because if we want to go to more than one
place, it works out way cheaper. The car rental is only 10 € per
day with insurance. While transport to just Ubud and back for two
would have been more than that. So we reserve the cheapest, a 2006
Suzuki Jimny for tomorrow morning.
Stuff here is cheaper than in Thailand
and most other places in Asia I've been to. But after being here a
while you have pretty much everything you need, and at some point I
need to stop buying stuff just because it's cheap. Being strong and
just investing in some hilarious sunglasses (after all, you always
need sunglasses). We walk through the other side of Kuta which has
malls and fancy restaurants in addition to the small stores. I can
see why people spend many weeks every year on vacation here or why
others simply get stuck. You have everything here you would need, it
has a nice beach and lots of facilities. And if you want to go
somewhere transportation (although expensive for Asia) is easily
organized. This is simply the happening part of Bali. It is low
season though and the Bars and Clubs are not that happening yet. I
can't wait to hear the stories my friends are going to tell me that
visit over Christmas and New Years. Everything is going to be
paaaacked!.
Morning time is car pick-up time. Over
our fantastic included breakfast of half a toast and black coffee
(hey it's free) we decide to go to Padangbai. It's said to have nice
beaches, nice diving and is about halfway to the other places we
intend to visit. Julia has kindly agreed to drive so I am the
Navigator. The 2006 Jimny looks more like a 1976 Jimny. The seat
belts are... let's call it 'worn', only one door opens with the key,
all others need to be opened from the inside and so on. But the car
functions, everything considered, quite well and we set out to
discover Bali. The first challenge is to survive the drive out of the
narrow lanes in Kuta. It's barely wide enough for one car but in
addition it is a two-way road with oncoming traffic, tons of
motorcycles and shops protruding on the street. If we make it outta
here the rest of Bali can't be that bad. And we are fine. At the
petrol pump it shows once again that Indonesians don't know how to
form a line, everyone skips in front of us and we also have to get
rude in order to fill up. With only very minor detours we get to
Padangbai and on the second try find a fabulous looking Homestay
(well they found us, really). A bit more expensive than we had hoped
but after a hard bargain we pay 9€ each a night for our own
Bungalow with pool and breakfast. Aaaaaaah! Since the pool is so
inviting we cancel the afternoon plans and just hang around here.
It's good to relax for a bit.
I also planned to go for some diving,
since they have some good spots around here. The dive shop can't take
us out today anymore (1pm is apparently too late of a notice) and we
decide to go to Ubud tomorrow and try some diving the day after.
Chilling, eating, chilling eating is the rest of the day.
Although the Bungalow is extremely
comfortable it is way too hot to sleep tight at night but that's just
another thing you have to deal with sometimes in South East Asia.
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