Kuta Beach,
Bali, Indonesia
Jun 27, 2001 02:43
Pros:
nice and interesting place, paradise
Cons: none
Mom, you can stop worrying - I'm still alive, and I finally made
it to Bali.
We left Sunday morning, and had a 13 hour flight fom Chicago to
Tokyo. Surprisingly, that flight seemed much shorter than the subsequent
6 1/2 hour flight from Tokyo to Jakarta. The stopover in Tokyo was
brief - only about 16 hours - and pretty inconsequential, but well
worth it - primarily because I beat my Japan-obsessed younger brother
to his favourite country. The original plan had been to head into
Tokyo for the evening. Unfortunately, money and time didn't permit
us to leave Narita, where the airport is located. It was still pretty
interesting to check out Japan, however. Our evening in Narita included
a visit to the Narita Shinto Temple, and a nice Japanese dinner
in town. Then it was off to bed, and onto an 11 am flight to Jakarta,
finally arriving in Bali after 30-something hours of travel. I want
to say that I regret flying Japan Airlines, and taking so long to
get here. But I can't - JAL had the coolest planes I have EVER been
on. Each seat in Economy had an individual TV screen with 12 movies,
video games, a navigation map, and, my favourite part of all, an
onboard camera, with two different views, forward and down. I get
amused by the silliest things.
Anyway, we finally got to Bali last night - and immediately got
ripped off (I should have known - I was the one who told you it
was filled with scam artists). At Immigration, they asked us for
our return ticket out of Indonesia. Apparently, you need one of
those to enter the country. Unfortuantely, our return ticket is
out of Singapore, which as I'm sure even the most geographically-challenged
know is a separate country. So we were SOL. After a little sweet-talking
(or begging, if so interpreted), we were allowed into the country,
provided we paid the nominal entrance fee - $20. WELCOME TO BALI!!!!!
Damn Immigration Officers ;)
It didn't stop there. We decided to spend our first night in Kuta
- basically the Cancun of Bali. The place is absolutely packed with
tourists, and people trying to rip them off.
As we walk down the street, we are confronted by a different Balinese
every two steps offering something we don't want: bracelets, clothes,
drugs, young women, and buses to everywhere on the Island. Paradise,
let me tell you. We settled on a hotel in Kuta, and crashed, surrounded
by the loud noises of the disco next door. When we woke up this
morning, early due to jet lag, we decided that it was necessary
to relocate. We spent about 2 hours wandering up and down the beach
looking for a place. To make matters worse, Jay started feeling
the initial effects of the famed Bali Belly, necessitating a search
for toilet after toilet. Finally, we found a beautiful place - bungalows
on the beach, about 10 minutes outside of Kuta, with a/c (a precious
commodity in 90 degree heat) for about $25 US. Not bad at all. The
rest of the morning has been spent lying on the beach, surfing,
and trying to ignore the countless people offering everything under
the sun.
And so now we're settled. The plan for the next couple days includes
more sun, surf, with some sightseeing thrown in. We'll probably
be in Bali for 4 or 5 days, and then head east to Lombok. We'll
spend a couple days there, and then back through Bali and west.
But things change...I'll keep you posted.
Jordan |
