Location: Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

I have no idea why I keep booking flights for early in the morning, maybe they’re cheaper? Regardless of the ‘ass-ness’ of the hour this morning, we were excited to be jetting off to INDONESIA! First stop Bali, ooof course!

As soon we stepped off the plane there was a wild eyed, gold, cartoon-y statue of a deity in front of us, and in the distance we could see brick gateways, built squarely and geometrically. Men everywhere were dressed in sarongs (we later found out they’re traditional for men here) and Udengs, which are bright intricately patterned headscarves. On the way to our hostel we passed by tons of houses that reminded us of the bamboo ones in the Philippines only built with brick instead. The patterned walls are equally geometric and interesting, and are topped with dark brown terracotta roofs.

We arrived at Cara Cara hostel, and found a cute pool on the roof surrounded by cushions and big round sunbathing beds. Fun music blasted out over the speakers as people played giant jenga, and sipped drinks from a bar in a van permanently parked on the roof. As much as we could have layed down and spent the day there we had a mission. THE BEACH AWAITS.

It turns out we had very mixed feelings about Kuta Beach upon arrival… we’d heard nothing but amazing things. We passed through brick gates and saw the sand stretched out for many kilometres in both directions. Huge waves crashed along the length and dozens of surfers played in the hot sun. Apparently the surfing is amazing all day all year round here, something Max has been excited to take advantage of. People were laughing and playing and sunbathing everywhere. However, mixed in all of this was so much garbage. There were piles of it every 25 feet all the way down the beach, and a lot more along the surf line that hadn’t been collected into the piles yet. A quick google informed us that January and February is called ‘trash season’ as the currents and wind send garbage from all over the ocean to this coast of Indonesia.

We walked along the beach for a long time, watching the surfers and scouting out prices to rent a board for Max sometime this week. I got splashed by a violent wave all the way up to my bellybutton and soaked my shorts. Sun, sand and unplanned salt!

Since we wanted to explore a bit more today we turned inward and ran down a few random streets, ending up in hotel lobbies, dead ends and hawker and tattoo stalls. The streets make no sense and you have to make weirdly long detours to get where you’re going. How do people manage to get anywhere in a timely manner?

Max expressed that he was disappointed there was compost everywhere, especially in people’s birdhouses out front of their houses. I laughed for ages when I realized what he was talking about: people’s daily flower plate offerings! I hadn’t heard of them before this but I just assumed it was obvious! Imagine little square woven bamboo plates with flowers artfully arranged in them and placed inside mailbox sized houses out front of people’s residences. Speaking of Balinese houses… we passed by a few that left us in shock. Swear to god.

They’re like temples! Like mini temples. Black and grey and orange brick all mixed together to form spires and steps and bridges between square rooms. Greenery and flowers all around gave them a ‘vacation get-away’ feeling. People live in these?!

Intense. Jealousy.

We found a little local eatery, Yulia’s, that served traditional Balinese and Indonesian food that I was just losing my mind to try. (I’ve been talking about Indonesian food with Max for ages.) NOT. DISAPPOINTED. Max ordered Nasi Goreng- the quintessential Indonesian fried rice, and I had Ayam Betutu- heavily spiced chicken slow roasted in a husk fire. I could eat this for days. DAYS. I probably will to be completely honest. A procession of Sunday Hindu worshippers we’d seen singing on the beach earlier passed by us playing music and chanting all the way, dressed all in white.

We had ice cream on the way home from ICELAB, a parlour where you can create your own ice cream bars if you want to. The electric turn table of pre-made flavours were too tasty to pass up, so we will be returning in the following days to make our own for sure.

We have nothing in particular planned while we’re in Bali and after an intensely busy few days were looking forward to taking a vacation from our vacation. Cue the relaxation!

Sav