off the beaten track..

---

so, the bali life..

i am currently in ubud, what some would call the shopping capital of bali,, and man am i shopping. it is most probably not advisable, considering the fact that everything i buy i must lug around with me to europe, but things are so beautiful i am finding it impossible to resist temptaion. the batik ( a personal fetish of mine) is stunning, and my only thought is of all the beautiful things i can have made for next to no money. the weather here is odd, everyone is confused, as at this time of year ordinarily it is incredibly hot and the sun is shining with no remorse. despite this, it is currently overcast - as it has been almost constanty since i arrived last week. the weather is mild, warmer than back home, but not hot at all, i have even found myself a little chilly a couple of times since arriving.

so, i arrived intitially in Denpasar, which is just outside of Kuta, and travelled straight away to my hotel which had already been booked for me. (aren't i just a spoilt little lady!!) it was so nice to be able to spread out all my stuff, which had been previously contained in my trusty backpack back in KL. i even had my own bathroom, which was a huge luxury!! the place i was staying was about 500 metres from kuta beach, which is the main hub for all touristy endeavours - fake billabong shirts, hair plaiting, manicures, pedicures, massage etc etc etc. all down the beach - a stretch of probably 2 k's there are hundreds and hundreds of little shops selling drinks, sarongs, whatever you want really. it is stunning that they all get enough business to survive, as they all sell things that are exactly indentical to the shop next to it. i had dinner at a lovely little warung, had my current favourite - gado gado - which is basically steamed veges with peanut sauce, yumma yumma!! got chatting to these 2 austrian girls who invited me for a game of pool at a bar down the road. the bar was massive, with cheap beers, and heaps of pool tables, so that all the tourists (predominantly aussies) can chill out and drink the night away. i even ran into someone i know - if you can believe that!!

we listened to bad karaoke for about an hour before moving on to a different club, which had aussie hiphop playing!! thankyou music god!! anyway, long story short, i danced harder than i have ever danced before and got down with locals and tourists alike. stayed up until about 4 in the morning - i just love the random events that happen without you even realising!! i just think, if i hadn't have gone into that warung for dinner i may have spent the night sitting in my hotel alone...

a couple of days later i went to Candidasa to visit a friend of my grandparents who owns a little villa on the beach there. she has an amazing place - floor to ceiling glass walls overlooking the beach. there is a temple just opposite so you can pretty much guarantee chanting most of the day - a beautful soundtrack which is just so bali!! we went out to a bar that night, and after a few bintangs (gotta love that bali beer) i went over and sat down nextr to some boys from melbourne who are in bali for paragliding.. flying, or something to do with jumping off cliffs with material wings?? had a pretty mad night with them, learnt some lingo off the local boys. woke up the next morning, walked down the road of my village and every young guy knew my name - word travels fast around here - or maybe one to many bintangs made me introduce myself to eveyone in the place??? haha never mind, i had a fun night.

went to the beach the next day.. a white sand beach, soaked up the rare rays of sun, and drank a little bit of arak from a couple of people from the night before. drank and ate a coconut which had just been picked... oh the life in bali.. i could honestly wittle away the days here without knowing they have passed, it's all so relaxed and chilled.

went out again that night with the guys from the night before. we sat cross legged in a little bar called legends, drinking bintang and arak.. ooh the life.

the next moring, i woke up scarily early to go and climb a mountain with the paragliding cats. when i say mountain, i think only a large hill, but my lack of practise on the exercise front proved to be a bit of an issue - or maybe it was the leftover bintang in my belly from the night before that was causing the problem?? anyway, eventually got to the top, after many a sit down and a couple of pauses to watch the monkeys that roamed free up there. the view was pretty stunning, definitely worth the hike. took some stunning photos before trekking back down (alone this time). ran into a few issues, including huge amounts of cactus that i seemed unable to make my way through, and a couple of locals who lived in huts up there who couldnt speak english. had some interesting conversations with them in my incredibly bad indonesian. they could have honestly been saying anything and i would not have known. but it was an experience i must say - how lucky am i to even be here doing this!!

i'm thinking my writing is getting a bit stilted now, so i'm going to stop for sustenance (even though i don't need it - all i've done since i've been here is eat it would seem!!).

but there is more to come - i have had a ride on an elephant and had an encounter with some monkeys too - but i'll chat about that later when i'm more awake than asleep.

see all you lovely people later!

terimah kasi for reading!!

until next time. peace xx

---