Heading North

So, today was sadly our day to leave Australia behind us. Though there is still so much to see that I might just have to return someday... anyway, the morning got off to a bit of a rocky start, but we got to our flight on time so all was well. Our first stop was in Melbourne again... where we would connect to another flight that would take us north to Bali. Sadly that flight ended up about an hour delayed, although I do not know the reason. While we waited we got some breakfast; bacon, egg and cheese on foccocia. Interestingly, the bread was more like a roll than I expected and the bacon was far more like ham than I expected. That all said and done... it was quite tasty.

So, the flight itself was 5 hours, and fairly uneventful at that. I read a bit, wrote some notes and reminders, slept a bit, had a short nap. The usual plane activities. As we reached the coast of Bali I looked out the window to quite a lovely site. It reminded me of a child who really didn't want to draw green for trees in the ocean, so he took a yellow crayon and drew a big yellow border. That was Bali. A mass of green that ran all the way to the water's edge on rivers, but on the coast there was a solid beech that ran for as far as I could see along the border.

So we got off and in the airport had a bit of a struggle getting our visas. Not that there were issues, but finding where to go/what to do was not at its easiest. Then we got through baggage and customs with no trouble. Once outside, we wanted to find a place to sit and figure out where to go, but before that we had to fend off a hoard of taxi (taksi as its spelt locally) drivers. Eventually, we decided we did not know enough so I went to a hotel booking window and got us a place in Kuta for 2 nights and a taxi to get there.

Driving was terrifying.there seem to be two types of vehicles; taxis and motorcycles; and the taxis are trying to get around quickly while the motorcycles tend to pass on both sides at the same time. The roads are narrow and as far as I can tell lanes have limited meaning. But we arrived safely. The hotel is nice enough, with a quite nice restaurant next door. I'll admit the outdoor scenery is pretty stunning but inside its... fine. We took some time to take a breather and get some ideas for the 3 full days we have here. I think the hope is to take tomorrow easy and then take a 2 day tour of some key sites on the island (note... the whole island is the size of Delaware...). We'll see how the plan unfolds.

We went nest door for dinner (food/drinks are obscenely cheep...). We both had the same thing, as we were told it was a very Indonesian dish and looked pretty good. We got a type of puffed potato chip, some stir fried veggies, and a type of chicken kabob surrounding a mound of fried rice with shrimp and a fired egg on top. Not a combo I would have thought up but quite tasty.

In the evening we tried to go for a walk to the beech but had trouble finding it. There seems to be one main road and a small handfuls of narrow windy backroads where the motorcycles drive in large numbers. It was pretty uncomfortable, and when we worked our way back to the hotel we were both pretty relieved. Being a bit jetlagged (3 hours gained on the day) I think its a good night for an early bed and an early start tomorrow.

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