BP1.1: Bali -- Kuta and nearby
The most fitting description I've heard is that Kuta is a great place to visit and a great place to leave. It's basically like the Tijuana-party-beach-town of Bali and most people say to just avoid it and get out as soon as possible. Restaurants, bars and night clubs and endless stalls selling touristy t-shirts, sunglasses, watches, beachwear, -- you get the idea. The atmosphere is actually really fun and the beach had *perfect* waves for body surfing. I wanted to stay at least for one night and I ended up staying for three.
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Monday, October 27, 2004 : Day 4
Kuta
Well, the pictures to the right pretty much sum up Kuta.
Coming to this place was really really really ... really really intense. I thought I was above and beyond culture shock. Nope. I've never experienced traffic like this, especially since most of it consists of motorcycles. Everywhere. And everybody driving really fast and sooooo close to each other. This place answers the question that you always have in a traffic jam: "What would happen if everybody would just *go*." They don't seem to have much concept of space for pedestrians or each other. The hardest to see was to see this van pull up *right* behind two small girls walking. Like less than a foot. But they don't seem to hit each other. They constantly honk, but the honking is mostly polite little beeps of Asian made scooters and cars, more to say "I'm here, behind or next to you" rather than to say "Get out of my way." So the honking is pretty constant. The motorcycles (really motor-scooters) whip around corners so fast that you can look both ways and by the time you go you still might be in for a surprise.
The Touts
Ok -- a word about the touts. I was pretty overwhelmed with the attention that you get from the vendors and people offering transportation. And I mean more than once per minute. On a 1 hr walk, it got to be a bit much. I soon learned that it was the eye contact. And smiling and saying hello somehow bonds you to them and commits you to buy something. So, if you walk down the street and avoid eye contact with anyone who even looks like they *might* be selling anything then it gets a lot better. Coming from San Luis Obispo where you almost always at least make eye-contact, if not smile and say "Hi" made this a cultural difference that was *really* hard to get used to. Almost as hard as coming from LA to SLO and learning to always smile and say "hi" in the first place, 12 years ago.
The Beach
The beach wasn't anything special except that it seemed to be largely a hangout where locals and tourists mix and where people learn how to surf. The waves are *perfect* for body surfing and I forgot how much I missed that. The sand was really fine and dirty -- not your typical coral white sand that you would get around here. But the lack of coral is what makes it safe for great swimming.
Poppies
I stayed at Poppies in Kuta and for a few days it became a bit of a sanctuary to just chill out, and yes, get some work done. Billable hours and all that. In Bali. Poppies was US$60/night -- (published is $80/night) very lush, posh setting with people constantly coming in to your room when you're away to light incense, mosquito coils, arrange flowers. Here's a pic of the room, but the link to their website is probably better. You have to understand. For Bali and even Kuta, this is a *fortune*. I chilled -- relaxed, did some yoga, and used the small "library" overlooking the pool as an office since that's where the wireless was good. I was amazed at how productive I could be way the heck over here. (more on that below). The place was *really* empty. Just a couple of other guests. Not sure why, but maybe with all of the really nice $20 places around here I could see why. It's allowed me to be a total recluse which is sort of what I wanted for these few days.
Food
I didn't have to go far from Poppies to find one of the places mentioned in the Lonely Planet book, Uns. And I never seemed to get past it. There were a lot of places that looked interesting and a lot more that didn't, but this was the one that just seemed the most like a basic, local, non-tourist-gimmicky-really-high-end restaurant, comparable to a place where it would be hard to get out of for less than $US60-80 for two. I didn't hold back w/ my ordering and all in all dinner was about US$10 each time.
Try this at home: (not very Indonesian)
- Make a red pepper soup and a yellow pepper soup. Pour them into the same bowl so that they don't mix -- red on the left, yellow on the right. Put a stripe of cream down the middle and then zig-zag through that w/ a tooth pick. I wish I took a picture.
Or, spiced, seared Ahi on top of a bed of steamed vegetables, all on top of a perfect dill-cream sauce (containing lots of dill and some fish-sauce).
The rest that I tried were Indonesian and hard to describe. Or else I'm too lazy right now. Tender meat w/ some interesting sauces. Cool sauce (try at home): tomato paste, roasted/cooked garlic, cooked onion, chili peppers, chicken powder...
I managed to spend about $10 on dinner each night and would be downright happy to have a place like that to eat at in SLO even for US prices.
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All in all I'm really enjoying the trip so far, although there's definitely a challenge in transitioning, getting my feet on the ground, dealing with the currency (which is all in 1000's), and just trying to "get" all of those little things that makes being anywhere doable vs. constantly having to figure out and second guess every little thing. But that's what this is about, isn't it?
The site of the Bali Night Club bombing. Very sad. Over 200 killed, mostly young people from other countries. Across the street there is a shrine commemorating that tragedy w/ a fountain and a list of those killed and what country they were from. The pic of that came up missing -- maybe I can get another one later. The banner says "World Tolerance Day - Oct 12." It needs to be everyday.
Tuesday, October 28, 2004 : Day 5
South Bali / Sanur / The Cat & Fiddle Pub
On Tuesday there was supposed to be some kind of "session" as a place called "The Cat and Fiddle" in a town called Sanur, so I figured I'd go there for the night. I hired a driver recommended by Poppies (who I could trust to leave my stuff with, and who wasn't on commission to take me to "certain" spots) to take me around the southern tip of Bali and then over to Sanur, which is just east of Kuta. Basic sight seeing trip. It was $20 to hire the him and car. Great guy, great day, money well spent. He had no problem waiting if I wanted to go hang out on a secluded beach or walk through a temple for an hour or so.
In the lonely planet, it seems rare that you see the word "gorgeous" in the description of a homestay. But there it was. I got one open room (they were booked the rest of the week) at a place called Flashbacks. Beautiful. A retired couple from Australia living the dream of moving to paradise and creating a B&B that is really a work of art. And I'm and idiot because I didn't get pictures of the garden, pool area or upstairs eating area. And it was a nice place to meet and talk to some other travelers (again, no pictures, but really neat and interesting people). The pic doesn't do the bathroom justice. The sink is carved stone and the shower drains off a little rock ledge into a channel filled w/ small stones. It's hard to see, but this bathroom (as are many here) are open air.
The Weather
Did I mention that it's really hot here? I guess not *that* hot -- 86ish but really really humid. There is only the "dry" and the "wet" season here -- no spring, summer, winter or fall. To indicate seasons, they might say "during the European Summer" or "Australian Winter." This is the beginning of the "Wet" season -- no rain during the day so far, but the other part of wet in the "wet" season is that it's *really* humid. It can be hard to walk around during the day and be comfortable and not want to jump in a pool asap.
The Cat & Fiddle
This is largely an expat hangout and the "session" on Tuesday nights is mostly English music, and the session was really more of a gig w/ microphones, P.A., etc. They graciously invited me to play with them -- I was solid on about 1/2 the tunes and mostly did no harm to the rest of them. Three of the five players were consulates; for the English, Italian and Swiss embassies in Indonesia. After a couple of hours, a singer joined us. Lots of C & F -- arrgh. Hard for fiddle, but good for me. They also very graciously give me several spots to play some Irish sets and the bar seemed to really like it. The Expat scene is really interesting. Many of them, including the owners of the B&B seem to have similar stories where they all somehow ended up starting new lives here as the result of some sort of midlife crisis. And they really like it here. Anyway, I probably drank too much, but didn't completely embarrass myself. There were a lot of great people at this pub to meet, both players and non-players. The Swiss consulate (other fiddler) wants me to come to a party and stay at his villa on Friday, but that may be hard logistically.
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next: BP1.2 Bali - Ubud
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