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Today we arrived in Bali, and took a taxi to Kuta, Bali Indonesia. Kuta is like the TJ of Bali, but not nearly as ghetto. Our hotel is nice and cheap, the local food is excellent. Downside is trash on the street and beach, and hawkers everywhere trying to sell stuff. We stay at Hotel Sorga, which is pretty ok. After arriving in a few minutes, Vana has three swelling mosquito bites. Two days later, Kevin doesn’t have a single bite.
(two hour flight)
(Kuta is a beach town filled with surfers and backpackers from all over the world)
CLICK HERE to see pictures from this day.
Kuta, Bali Indonesia– Day 5 (Feb-2)
In the morning, KR rented a body board and fins on the beach. According to the locals, the wind blows onshore this time of year. The surf was flat, but seemed like typical Fall SB surf to me. I was out of shape, and only lasted about an hour. Trash everywhere in the water, but it was nice to trunk it. When I came out, Vana was surrounded by hawkers. Next time, I am bringing trash bags and will offer 1000 Rp for hawkers to fill it. With the hundreds of people renting boards on the beach, if each filled two trash bags once a week, I think they would have a clean beach.
In the afternoon, we hired a car to take us to Uluwatu, a temple on a cliff overlooking the Ocean. Also, there was a cool dance show overlooking the ocean, with 70 men in a trace, singing “checka, checka”, really fast, with mythical figures in dance telling the story. Overall, the tour was touristy, and we got our first walking ATM experience (everyone wants a withdraw). The dance was cool, and we got good pictures. At the end of the dance, the wind was really blowing, and I was thinking, they are really not going to burn that dry grass here with all these people, and this wind are they? I think most people like us were stashing cameras, ready to make a run for it. We asked our driver if anyone ever get hurt, he said; don’t worry about that, the priest has a bowl of holly water.
Indecently, I don’t like monkeys. They are creepy, and sneaky. While taking pictures, one snaked by Samsonite inflatable travel pillow, from an outer pouch of my backpack. I forgot it was there. While the Monkey was unfolding it, a hawker threw food in each hand of the monkey, causing the monkey to lose interest in international travel. This set me back 5000 Rp (about $0.50). On the way to Uluwatu, we stopped at Dreamland, which is a legendary surf spot; which seems turned nightmare, with a huge hotel, golf course, and rows of hawker stands. We took a quick picture of the flat surf.
CLICK HERE to see pictures from this day.
3 comments:
Hi Kevin and Vana,
You must be in Viet Nam by now. I believe they are celebrating Tet, their New Year's holiday. We'll be interested in hearing all about the contrast between the parade and festivities in Singapore and the celebrations in Viet Nam, knowing that the country is poor but upcoming. It's taking awhile to sort and title our NZ photos but I just couldn't wait to send you these two which were taken on our helicopter tour of the Tasman Glacier, part of our time spent in Mt. Cook National Park on south island. This was one of the highlights of our trip to NZ.
I talked to Marty Collins on Sunday morning. He comes "home" every six weeks or so to check on the progress of his home renovation. Anyway, he said that he thoroughly enjoyed meeting both of you, thinks you're both very smart and focused young people, and he is really excited about what you're doing. Marty said that he and his family are going to join a group, travel to Cambodia to help build houses for Habitat for Humanity. He shared his thoughts about the fact that his kids would much rather be hanging out with the Treuhaft kids next door (here on Yorkton Drive) but said that "our family is not a democracy" and his kids are priviledged and need to see that not everyone lives like they do. This conversation was one of the few times I've ever spoken to him, but he really is a great guy.
I visited with Harriet today and she is thoroughly enjoying her correspondence with you and hearing about your travels. She loves seeing your pictures - someone is turning out to be a great photographer. We loved Kevin's commentary about paying the hawkers to collect garbage on the beach. Apparently you've been a great help to Barbara and Harry Waight because they will be leaving for Bali and staying in the same area you visited.
Hope you like our photos. Can't wait to hear more from both of you.
We send our love,
Mom and Dad
gorgeous pictures and wonderful commentary. Feel like I'm right there with you. I want one of those avocado/chocolate thingys!
love,
harriet
Oh no, not bug bites again!
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