Wind In My Head: Blistering Bali
Wind In My Head
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Blistering Bali
We're back from Bali. Having learnt from our previous Bali adventure, we took the sun in moderation unlike our travel companions who indulged so much in the sun, their scalps were sunburnt.Some things were similar to our last visit, some things were different.
Similarities.
1. It was blisteringly hot.
2. The sky was a shade a blue that made you smile just by looking at it.
3. There was much laying by the pool because there were just TOO many touts on the beach.
4. Our drivers shared the same name even though they looked remarkably different. It only made sense when the driver told us that their names told people the order in which they were born into a family and both this driver and the previous ones were the third born into the family.
5. The stores sold the exact same clothes, right down to the Fuck Terrorist T shirt we found and bought the last time round.
Differences.
1. We stayed at Nusa Dua this time, rather than Kuta. This meant we had prettier, private beaches and a luxurious resort.
2. The problem with having a luxurious resort and a private beach was that food was a problem. Resort food meant Singapore prices. Wanting to go out meant having to cab because walking was out of the question, especially in the heat. And the thing with Bali is that everyone is connected to everyone else, so when you ask for food recommendations, you don't get good food, you end up going to places that sell tourist food at tourist prices.
Our attempt to try to get non-resort food and non-resort prices resulted in a somewhat Groundhog Day adventure where we got lost in the somewhat "gated neighbourhood" of Nusa Dua and went round and round and not being able to find our way out and ending up where we started out. At that point, we were resigned to yet another night of resort food only to be thwarted there too when we finally settled on Japanese and the resort's generated failed and left us sitting stupidly on tatami mats in the dark.
That was when we accepted our fate and bade a hasty retreat to our rooms where we ordered room service and ate copious amounts of MSG laden cup noodles.
3. There was an entire eco system where we were. Ponds with fish that ate mosquito larvae attracted kingfishers and monitor lizards. We also saw some other bird that would hang around the stupid humans who fed the fish, thus egging them to come to the surface whereupon the bird would swoop in and have breakfast. Then, there were the ducks outside our balcony. Six of them, one of which was as stupid as stupid can be, oft bullied by the other ducks and spent the entire hot day running round the pond rather than heading in for a swim like the other 5. I also learnt that ducks don't eat lettuce. :)
So, we had animals rather than Hard Rocking heavy metal jammin' till late at night that we previously had.
All in, it was a good holiday. Our travel companions are extremely depressed to be back because it's all wet and rainy. I don't mind it so much but then again, that's probably due to the fact that I can laze in bed till 10 in the morning or sleep 14 hours at a stretch thus enjoying the rainy, stormy weather.
Technorati Tags: Bali, Nusa Dua
Ondine tossed this thought in at 11:07
1 thoughts...
-
At 7:41 pm
wahj said... Your resort sounds exactly like the one K and I went to last year - except I think we stayed in the Hilton. Everything else - down to monitor lizards - sounds exactly the same. Too bad the beach was too touty for you (maybe the time of year): I loved the beach at Nusa Dua.