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Published: August 5th 2007
Somewhere Over the Indian Ocean
A glance out of our window on our way to Bali.Leaving Australia was bittersweet. We were sad to see it go but excited as hell for a new adventure. Our flight from Perth to Bali was only 3 hours and was nice because of the free alcohol and the friendly Australian couple sitting next to us giving us advice.
Arriving in Bali's airport was interesting in that we thought we had walked into an Asian restaurant. There was an overwhelming smell of incense and a plethora of Hindu figurines. Before we could really figure things out we were mobbed by a horde of taxi drivers yelling, "Transport!" Instead of stressing out we just hopped in a taxi and said, "Take us to Kuta beach." We figured even if we get charged a little too much it's only a matter of a buck or two. Speaking of which, it was awesome to feel like instant millionaires upon arrival in Bali. Things are so cheap, it is unreal.
Our place in Kuta was pretty nice and it was only US$9 a night. An interesting side note was that our taxi driver informed us that the site of the first bomb in 2002 was only a 100m away from where we stayed.
Big Ballin'...Shot Callin'
Instant millionaires in just three hours... Needless to say we were on edge for the first day in Kuta, but after that everything was fine. The Balinese people are very friendly which helped to calm the nerves a bit. We explored the streets of Kuta where we were again bombarded but this time by shopkeepers and runaway motorscooters. The driving in this place is crazy, it is like Mexico times a thousand. Motorscooters drive on sidewalks and there will be cars and motorscooters heading in opposite directions on one-way streets. If you add a bunch of tourists all over the place then you have Kuta. Being a pedestrian is definitely a full-time job here and you have to be on point otherwise you'll get smoked by a scooter, like Ryan almost did. We surfed Kuta beach and settled down for a massage...not a massage plus...haha. It was awesome and it only cost us $8 an hour.
After two days in Kuta we wanted to head south to Padang Padang. There we found a thatch hut on stilts for $4 a night. While staring in the mirror with our shaved heads doused with sweat we had a moment where we thought, Holy s#@! we are living
Offering to the Gods
They are everywhere and it's very easy to trip over one. in a hut in Indonesia! A far cry from where we were 2 months ago. We also felt like we were in a Rambo movie with the ceiling fan causing the dim light above us to strobe the room. There was a Rip Curl surf competition going on nearby so we posted up for awhile to check it out. The surf was double overhead with gaping barrels...so we just decided to watch. The next day we went and to Dreamland and just sured and laid on the beach all day. We could definitely see ourselves doing that our entire stay in Bali, but we wanted to see a little of the culture first, so we headed north to Ubud. We plan on working our way south in a few days.
We arrived in Ubud today, which looks like a classier Kuta minus the beach. After treating ourselves to a luxury bungalow (air-conditioning, hot water and good beds) we walked to the sacred monkey forest. At the entrance to the forest we bought some bananas to feed the monkeys. It wasn't long before Ryan's stash was ambushed by a very acrobatic flying monkey. We visited a few of the temples
Tree Fort
Welcome to our humble abode inside, one of which we had to dress in the ceremonial sarong and sash. While sitting down in the temple another monkey launched onto Ryan's back causing a momentary panic, since there were signs warning against touching or agitating the monkeys. Luckily, all this guy wanted to do was pick at Ryan's hair long enough for Russ to snap a funny photo for the blog.
That's the story so far here in Bali, we will update you guys in about a week or so...later.
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The Bintang IS Good
Dang it!! I hope you guys go a little south to Uluwatu- a super hippy surf spot! Have fun and say hi to Made, Wayan and Kadek for me