At 12:30 a.m. we arrived in Bali. We had planned on sleeping in the airport until morning before finding a guesthouse, but the airport is too small for that. Arrivals is literally a single hallway leading to baggage claim, and then another short one lined with money changers that takes you out of the airport. The most annoying thing is the overly aggressive porters who will literally rip your bag out of your hands and carry it the 100 feet through check out to get a tip from you; and there are like 20 of these guys standing around, it’s ridiculous.
We set out looking for cabs and almost headed out in one but jumped out after it started feeling a bit too shady. We took cover in the closing Starbucks outside the airport to browse our lonely planets and the internet. We met some guys inside who had missed their flight out. When the Starbucks closed we expected to get kicked out, but actually were invited in to hang out by the workers who had just finished their shift. They gave us some food that was leftover from the day, and even a beer each after they went out and got some and were drinking it in the Starbucks. The boss was even smoking at a table with a blatant ‘no smoking’ sign on it. We ended up staying until 2:30, which was too late because by then all of the cabs had packed up and left for the night. We had heard that we should only be spending 20,000 to get to Kuta, so we balked at offers of 50,000 from some random guys with cars on the road. We started out walking to Kuta for a few hundred meters before a passing cab agreed to take us for 30,000. We were especially lucky because it turned out that we were walking in the wrong direction anyway.
Driving into Kuta we saw a lot more Western businesses than we were used to in the rest of Asia, mostly due to Kuta being a surfing mecca. We got dropped off at the end of Poppies II and set out looking for a place to stay. We didn’t have much luck for the first while, but ended up running into two girls from Vancouver who walked us over to where they were staying on Poppies I. We checked in for two nights at Arena Hotel for 180,000 per night; not a bad deal for a last resort. The room and hotel were actually the nicest we’ve probably stayed in on our entire trip; we even had cable T.V., as well as a pool we never used.
The next day we browsed around our immediate surroundings. Our hotel was situated on the long alleyway that connects Poppies I and II. Poppies I is a small single lane road bursting with small shops selling all manner of counterfeit goods. It also has a number of convenience stores, but no 7-11. The Mcdonalds at the end of the road was great as it had free wi-fi and 25 cent ice cream cones. We ate our first meal at Sultan Kebab, a food court with ten identical little stands aggressively selling all types of Asian food. I think that they’re all owned by the same person though, as every 10 seconds one person or another would come up to the boss in the middle of the court for change. Nobody has change for any note over $2.
We made our way to the beach shortly after, where we would spend most of our days. The beach is amazing. The sand and the water are perfect. The plentiful waves were always packed full of surfers. We ran into Ross and Kirsty from Singapore after only a few minutes on the first day. They were also with a few friends of theirs from back home who had come to Bali for a couple weeks. That day we were given passes for a club called Sky Garden that night which advertised unlimited Heineken from 9-12 for $6.
It happened to be Halloween that night so we improvised costumes out of markers from a Circle K. I was David Bowie and Alex was Zorro. The British girls were pirates. We hit Sky Garden with a group of 9 and got a table upstairs playing drinking games for a couple hours. Then 11 p.m. hit and we went upstairs where girls were getting free drinks. It was a mad rush at the bar for the entire hour with many girls coming out with drinks spilled all over them. Eventually the free drinks ended though so we made out way back to Arena Hotel.
The next day we moved slightly down the road to a cheaper, 120,000 per night, accommodation. Walking down Poppies I that day I ran into Chris and Ben, two of the British guys that Suzanne had brought with her to the Full Moon party from Ko Samui. They became elated at the unlimited Heineken idea and we made plans to go out that night. Unfortunately we got a little mixed up on the meeting place, but eventually saw them at the bar later that night. Also that night they had free tapas at 11 p.m. to go along with free drinks for guys and girls at the same time. The bar that night was a free-for-all. While standing in the mob Alex had two girls trying to squeeze by him so he stuck out his elbows to block their path. It was a fun night nonetheless.
We had been thinking a bit about going to the Gili Islands so when Chris and Ben told us they were going two days later we made plans to jump on the same boat. We didn’t drink the night before, as we were getting picked up at 6 a.m. We did however go back to the bar at 11 p.m. that night for free tapas.
Steeves
