Last Days in Bali

My final days of Bali were an interesting switch-up. I took a bus down to Kuta for my last 3 days in Bali. It was very easy to do this since Ina, my landlady, had another room available there that I swapped to and kept my same rent, not to mention I was 10 minutes from the airport to fly out in 2 days. Kuta is more or less an Aussie haven/tourist trap. It's a beach area along the west coast in the south of Bali, right by the international airport.

The car ride to the bus station in Ubud.

This gives you an idea of the driving experience here in town,

there's huge tourist buses that block traffic on the tiny streets all the time.

The first day I was in Kuta I went around town and did some touristy things like shopping and checking out the beach areas. Shopping here is a mixed bag. It can be fun, but if you're anywhere off the main Kuta Square of high priced chain stores from Europe and the US, expect non-stop hassling by pushy street vendors. Thailand can be intense in this way sometimes, but it is no where near the omnipresent aggressiveness of the Kuta street vendor. If you even glance at or get in range of any of their stalls, you will be hassled non-stop until you leave, and after you leave to "Yes, please look", "Come in, miss", "More Sarong for you", "Good price", "Yes, this, this". "Sunglasses, sunglasses! No? Belt, Belt come look"  Usually they are pointing out items you aren't even vaguely interested in that you saw at EVERY other stall you've walked by for the past 2 hours. A range of beautiful mass produced art to cheaply made nick-nacks that you wouldn't take for free if they begged you. And some do beg you. Even if I am interested in looking, I'm usually feel so pressured by the person literally following me within inches through their stall commenting on every single thing I glance at in a desperate attempt to get my business that I just want to leave. On top of that add the roaming street vendors and you feel like you can't escape.

People come to Kuta for holiday? More like: walk around in a poor area ritzed up (mostly by foreign companies) for the tourists, tape a huge money sign to your head and see how much fun you can have trying to see the city. Then add the onslaught of desperate vendors in contrast to the barrage of sun-burnt hung-over Aussies in Bintang shirts (the local beer) and you've got Kuta in a nutshell.

So I mostly enjoyed myself by eating exotic foods, one of my favorite past-times for travelling. 

Young Coconut

Dragonfruit.

Avocado Chocolate Smoothie.

I had several of these throughout my trip, amazing!

That night, Ina and I went out to the main party strip, Legian Street. We checked out some of the biggest venues in the area, one of which was the Sky Garden Lounge, a 4 story high-rise club with different DJ's in each room and balcony views over the city. This was an OK scene, it seemed like it could be fun on certain nights, but my experience was somewhat tainted by what happened at the door. I got in free because I'm a tourist, but Ina had to pay. When I asked her why she had to pay she said that many local hookers come here. So any local has to pay to get in, I'm guessing this is to deter locals from coming and maybe get some profit off "business ventures". This kind of made me sad and uncomfortable for Ina. She seemed OK with it though, so we still had a good time together. 

My next couple of days I met my other housemates from Belgium and France, who also introduced me to more friends from Belgium that they met in Bali. I really enjoyed our time together because they were such friendly, inviting people. Matt and Jessica (who I don't have any pictures of ><) and Romie (spelling?...) were my housemates. They introduced me to a sweet couple, Erika and Paulus. Many of them have been in Bali for 3 months, and some have come back year after year. It was a great experience travelling around town with them and seeing some spots that they had already done all the hard work of finding :) I love it when you're in a group of people where 4 languages are being spoken all the time. Regularly going and spoken by almost all of them were Dutch, English, French, and  Indonesian. Romie and I were able to speak Spanish together as well, so that was a great time!

They took me to a Japanese restaurant and afterwards we went to Cocoon to lounge back on the big outdoor couches and have some drinks by the pool with a view of the evening ocean. It was so warm out even at night.

Poolside at Cocoon,

a swanky outdoor lounge with a pool that I definitely used on my last night in Bali!

My swimming buddy, Erika.

Wonderful Belgians! My housemate Romie, and Paulus and Erika.

On my last day in Bali I decided to take advantage of the warm weather and lounge on the beach. I took a taxi from Kuta just north to Legian beach which only cost about 13,000 Rp ($1.45). It's not really worth it to try to relax on Kuta beach, more relaxing is Legian because it has less people on the beach patrolling around badgering you to buy things. After some pro bargaining I rented this lounge chair and umbrella for 20,000 Rp ($2.25) for the whole day, and had food, beer, and ice cream continually rolling in.

Here's my spot on the beach in Legian.

:)

Interesting side note, this is "whitening cream" that you can buy in the stores here.

Tan isn't beautiful here, white is. I wonder why it is that people think what they don't naturally have is what they need to be beautiful? White people want to get tan, tan people want to get white. Straight hair, curly hair... you get the point.

After my day in the sun I ran into my Belgian friends again while walking back down the beach. After a few more drinks and  a tasty dinner, all too quickly it was time to hop in the taxi and be off to the airport. Here's some interesting things from the airport:

Though Bali is Hindu, Indonesia is primarily Muslim.

With obligatory prayer 5x a day, this seems necessary.

Ha! This was on the toilet in the airport.

People need to know these things.

Thank you Bali, for a beautiful time full of beautiful people and experiences. I'm so fortunate to have been able to do Thailand and Bali on my own, I've learned so much about myself through challenges and amazing adventures. I'm capable of more than I knew, and am excited to bring what I've gained into my life. Once again, I'm off to a new adventure: New Zealand, where I get to help bring my new nephew Caleb into this life. I'm excited to help my sister Serena with this transition, and am thankful for this time with Riley and my girl Jo Jo too!