Bali

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I arrived in Bali on Thursday night at 11:10 pm Bali time where a man stood with a Ryan Hogan sign and drove me to my hotel. I just went to sleep. The next morning I had breakfast then went for a walk along the beach...sooo many hawkers, everybody wants to sell you stuff. Or bring you to his friends store to buy his stuff, evrybody's on commission for evryone else. the beach was very busy with early morning Balinese preparing their little section of beach, raking the driftwood and garbage, and there is a ton of garbage...makes you almost weep, then lighting the piles on fire. It's hot...as I'm walking, tiny rivulets of water start to flow from my temples, joining rivulets from my eyebrows, ears, nostrils, lips, chin, throat, armpit, you name it until, at my feet, salmon splash and dream of the bountiful spawning grounds that surely must abound up such a torrent of water. I went back to my hotel to laze in the pool for a while and drink a couple of 'bintangs'. I wandered a bit through the very hectic shopping region of Kuta. The driversa here are insane, whole families will ride on a single scooter, small child standing in front between dad's arms as he drives with mom squeezed in behind him and big sister sitting on the... taillight I guess. I hung out at my hotel meeting the other guests and some very nice balinese folks...they're all so nice here. This morning I wandered into Kuta again to exchange my Canadian money and draw a little from the bank. Then Madi from the hotel drove me out to my current location of Ubud. About an hour and a bit of astonishing driving along a one lane road(with two lanes of traffic, sometimes three) from Kuta. Ubud is the cultural center of Bali and here I will see some traditional Balinese dances and artisans at work. I will stay here maybe two nights then head out to the east coast at Amed where the diving is said to be very good. So I will update in a couple of days. Much Love from Asia, Ryan.

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