A weekend by the beach

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The couple I met at The Family Guesthouse in Ubud asked me to accompany them to Kuta, the big tourist town on the west coast of Bali. We arrived on Saturday morning at a bungalow complex just thirty seconds from '66 Beach' in Seminyak.

The accommodation was a little grotty, but it was cheap and came with the added bonus of a semi-outside bathroom! It had a tin roof and walls which stopped short of the top, leaving a gap through which you could see trees and flowers whilst sitting upon the toilet. Pretty sweet.

Michael has been here many times before and knew some of the locals. These guys manage the sun-loungers and sell drinks during the day, surfing when they want. In the evenings they party. We hung out with them for most of the day.

I had a go at surfing! It was hard, but then I only had ten minutes of instruction. I didn't manage standing on the board, although I did get onto my knees a few times. It was exhilarating, especially when you catch a wave just right.

Some of you may recall that I have tried poi (spinning balls on string) before, but never the flaming variety, suspecting that my general lack of coordination would result in near-certain injury. One of Michael's friends had some fire poi so, with a great deal of fear in my heart, I gave it a go! I kept it simple and didn't try anything too flashy, and managed to keep my dignity and avoid second degree burns.

We went out Saturday night, first stopping at a small bar where a jazz band were providing the sounds. After that we went to M-Bar-Go, one of the largest clubs in Kuta, only stopping for thirty minutes (the clubs are free to enter here, so you don't worry about hanging around if you get bored and want to move on).

We went on to Apache Bar, a reggae/dub club. Whilst listening to a mix of live music and DJs spinning, we tried some oddly named cocktails with absurdly high alcohol contents. I had a good night, despite being conscious of the 2002 nightclub tragedy, which had happened mere metres away from where we were currently getting our kicks.

I bought a couple of paintings from a man outside my room. These guys come to your room if you happen to be sitting outside and torment you, basically. 'I am poor'; 'I have to go to doctor'; 'very cheap for you'. It makes you feel guilty for bartering them down, espcially since it is very little money anyway. I paid less than ten pounds for two original paintings.

There is such a wealth of interesting trinkets on offer here that every now and then my self-control fails and my money and I part company. If I were here on a two week package holiday, I would be spending money as if it were going out of fashion, but the fact is my budget has to last a minimum of seven months, and it would be foolish to start buying random treasures this early in the game. Plus my rucksack is heavy enough as it is.

Now we return to Ubud, where I hope to fit in a few more activities before I leave for New Zealand.

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Comments

[Ashley Hurley]

Hi looks like you enjoyed Bali. I am going on the 16th of September From Ash