Scooting on Scoots

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The past few days Stephanie and I have been exploring Southern Bali on Scoots, our newish Honda motorbike. Scoots is the first bike we've had that has all of the necessary components: brakes, steering, AND power. Being sick of the pool, I have been dragging Stephanie on adventures. Actually adventure is probably a very apt name as I never actually know where we're going but we always seem to end up there. Stephanie is very trusting to ride on the back of Scoots while I pretend to know exactly how to get where we're going. Riding a scooter (or just plain driving) in Indonesia is a bit of an act of faith. As I've mentioned before, there are often lane lines but they tend just to be an indicator of the direction the road goes in as they usually (and I do mean usually) run parallel to the road. Lane lines have absolutely nothing to do with dividing traffic - this can mean 3 or 4 lanes of traffic where most people would try to fit 2. One way streets are usually just indicators of which way MOST of the traffic travels, but certainly not all of it. Sidewalks are less for pedestrians than they are for going the wrong way down a one way street on a scooter. The horn is used for passing, saying hello, warning dogs not to run in front of you, road rage, and for fun. Larger vehicles generally stick to the right side of the lane and scooters and motorcycles get the left side. Again, no hard and fast rules. The main rule of riding a bike seems to be merge first, look later. It appears to be the responsibility of traffic already on the road to avoid other people that want to be on the road.

This said, I have taken to driving on the left. Stephanie no longer has to sing Beyonce in my ear ("To the left, to the left") and for the most part we have been doing the whole "When in Rome" thing. No worries parents, we drive safely and I have the utmost respect for the road and the other vehicles around me. I've only hit my mirrors on a few other vehicles and Stephanie and I spend a lot of our time thinking "skinny thoughts" while we squeeze between stopped traffic. I am getting good at passing, motivated by the fact that I do not like the "diesel facials" you get when stuck behind trucks and buses (and occasionally tractors).

Anyway, the last two days Stephanie and I have taken Scoots out to Padang Padang, a beautiful beach about 45 minutes south of here. We were actually headed to Dreamlands but ended up at Padang Padang which was a lucky break. The beach is down stairs through a temple and through an almost-cave. Monkeys play in the temple. Today we also rode out to Uluwatu (about 10 minutes further down the lush green road). Uluwatu is, however, in no way suited for swimming and we don't surf, so the climb down and then back up a million stairs was only for a beautiful view. Bali is, indeed, beautiful.

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Photos

Padang Padang
The bridge at the top.

Padang Padang
One of the guys guarding the bridge from the passage of evil.

Kuta
Sunset from our hotel.

Kuta
Our street at sunset.