Part two of my travels have begun and I’m currently in Bali. After 33 hours of flying, including a 12 hour layover in South Korea and a one hour layover in Jakarta (where thankfully I was able to bribe an airport official to help me bypass the 200+ “normal person” line for Indonesian Visas and instead take me through the Diplomat’s line), I arrived in Bali. Jet lagged and exhausted, my only thought as the plane touched down at Denpassar Airport was “after 33 hours this better be worth it.” Thankfully it was and still is.
I stayed in Legian, a charming little hotel set in a garden about 300 meters from the beach that fed me fried rice and omelets for breakfast. My first morning I explored the beach, shopped, and treated myself to an $8, one hour massage. I met some fellow travelers, and we joined up with a group of locals and all had dinner together. I was the only American in a group of about 20, but English was the common language for everyone. Aside from the Balinese there were a few girls from Prague, one from New Zealand, one from Canada, a few from Australia, and a few from various parts of Indonesia. One of the locals had chosen the restaurant, a delicious hole in the place that most tourists haven’t yet discovered, and we had platters of seafood, fried rice, chicken dishes, and endless Bintangs, the local beer. Total cost? 40,000 Rupiah - roughly $4. It’s amazing how cheap it is here. Especially compared to Italy.
I began surfing lessons my second day in Bali. I had been put in touch with an instructor named Ketut, a young guy from Kuta who thankfully was incredibly patient. Although it took almost an hour, I managed to get up on the board and actually surfed. When my lesson ended, Ketut brougt me back to my hotel on the back of his motorbike and offered to give me a tour of the island. He picked me up about two hours later, again on the motorbike (I really want one now) and we drove about 45 minutes south to “Dreamland Beach,” as well as Padong Padong, where Rip Curl is currently hosting a big surfing competition. We stopped and bought coconuts along the side of the road and drank the juice before continuing along to Uluwatu. We visited the Uluwatu Temple, a gorgeous temple built the water which is rampant with little monkeys. I thought they were adorable until about 1/4 of a way into the temple one of the monkeys actually leapt onto my back, climbed up to my shoulder, and stole my sunglasses off of my head. Ketut tried to bribe the little thief with an apple, but in the end the monkey ran away, taking my glasses with him.
It was a beautiful drive back, but unfortunately Bali has 5:00 traffic, and our 45 minutes drive turned into a 2 hours stop and start. I thought the Italians were bad with their motorbikes, but the Balinese are far worse. When traffic came to a standstill, Ketut simply drove on the opposite side of the road, heading towards oncoming traffic in a game of chicken we certainly would have lost, until at the last second he’d weave back onto the proper side of the road. We would drive on the correct side of the road for a minute, but as soon as traffic slowed we’d hop up on the sidewalk, weaving in and out of people, and then dart back out onto the road.
I had dinner with Tim that night, an American writer/surf junkie from LA who has lived in Bali for the past year. Thankfully his motorbike skills were a bit tamer than Ketut’s, and he brought me to a Mexican restaurant in nearby Seminyak. I wasn’t sure how the Balinese would do Mexican, but it was surprisingly really, really good. It’s amazing once you start traveling how many amazing people you meet who have basically just said “screw it” and decided to move abroad and just do what they want.
