Indonesia - Kuta beach in Bali

Wednesday 4^th February

It felt so good to return to Bali and the tropics, as soon as we stepped out of the airplane we were hit by the well known hot and humid weather. We were both very excited to soon meet Iben on the pre-booked hotel. She arrived 5 hours before us. We had upgraded our standards to be able to meet her midway, so our hotel was with wifi, air-con and a pool. We really splashed out to make her feel comfortable. 

In Denpasar Airport we quickly settled in to our new environment, and knew exactly how to handle all the touts in the airport. When we told the few touts following us that we knew the prices, and that we would just go outside the airport area to find a decent prices cab, they started to cooperate with us. We got to Legian, close to Kuta beach for 60.000 IDR. (Indonesian Rupiah) (30kr), but there was no small talk or service for those money! Oh man we have really missed the chaotic and noisy traffic, it felt like home to us and we seriously enjoyed coming back to the Indonesian vibe and the tropics. 

Kuta beach isn’t exotic at all, but it was a good meeting point for us, and at the same time it’s something that we wanted Iben to experience. On Sayang Mahe Mertha Hotel we meet Iben, who already had hooked up with a native over a pool game. It was awesome to see a familiar face again. We had booked the first three nights together in a shared room that included breakfast. We had all travelled a long distance and were a bit exhausted, but we ventured out in the buzzing area to celebrate our reunion with Bintang beers. There was a lot of catching up to do, but we were in no rush... We took one thing at a time! The beers only made us more sleepy, so eventually we decided to explore the following day, after a good nights sleep.

An old friend

Thursday 5^th February

Breakfast included toast, jam, tea and coffee. None of those things can keep us full for very long, but it was still better than nothing. We decided to see the beach, as Iben was very excited for this part of the day. 

She was totally overwhelmed by happiness when she tucked her feet in the sand and walked towards the sea. It’s exactly that feeling that we miss having... For us it was just a beach. All though I think, by her being around, we both we feel more pumped with positive energy, plus that we are back in Asia which we had missed for quite a while. Her happiness also made us realize how lucky we actually are, imagine taking such a nice beach for granted, that’s a good, but spoiled life to live. 

After a few hours on the beach Iben had conquered the mandatory I’m-on-holiday-sunburn, so we had a stroll up to the streets of Kuta. All the identical looking shops can be a bit confusing from time to time, but slowly we got a good feeling of it. 

In the afternoon we were in for a treat.. Massage, pedicure and manicure for the girls, and a facial treatment and a massage for Erik, it came to 360.000 rupiah. To get the rate to Danish Kroner we remove the last 3 zero’s and divide the rest by 2. Erik’s therapist was walking around on his back, and when Iben realized it, she yelled out to her therapist “No walking”. It made us laugh hard. By the end of the treatments it was already starting to get dark outside and it was only 6pm. The day seemed so short for us. We are use to longer days from NZ. Iben seemed really surprised too. 

We felt like a bit more celebration would be the only right thing to do, so after a shower back at the hotel, we went on a small pub crawl and Iben got to feel the Kuta vibe. Kuta is a big party place for young people, particularly Ozzie’s, but frankly we felt too old for the young crowd. We had a good time but none of us were in the mood for getting teenage crazy. 

Kuta beach

Luxurious pedicure

Friday 6^th February

We figured that ordering some eggs, on top of breakfast would do a better job than just the toast and jam. 

We planned to see a fair part of the trading streets, and we had only just got out of the shower before our clothes was soaked in sweat. That’s usually how it is here. 

We bargained our way through the day, and not every bargain ended happily for both parts. It’s low season at this time of year, so the shopkeepers are really hungry after money, which made it ideal for us to buy some new stuff. 

In the afternoon when we arrived tired and exhausted in the hotel I decided to go for a jog, even though the weather conditions made it feel like suicide, I managed to run 3km. People were looking at me like I was crazy, and no wonder. Meanwhile Iben and Erik relaxed at the pool, which was a way better option. I felt awesome afterwards though. ...... Our dinner destination, was a burgerbar just around the corner. We all got some very good burgers, for around 60000 IDR. each (30 Dkr.)

Saturday 7^th February

We all got up for a morning jog along the beach... It was so quiet and peaceful, there was barely no one on the streets... Only a few resort guards and some barking dogs welcomed us to a new day in paradise. It was amazing to see the sun colouring the sky in rainbow colours as we returned to the hotel. 

We had arranged to travel to Nusa Lembongan Island, by bus and boat. We knew exactly what to expect from the timetables they had showed us, we clearly remember how delayed most travels in Indonesia are. We prepared Iben for it, but to our big surprise the pick up bus arrived on time, okay then it took the driver quite a while and a good amount of patience to drive around and pick the rest up in the small streets, where there’s only room for one car at a time and thousands of impatience motorbike drivers, driving in between each others and the cars. Eventually we got out of the busy area, and were on our way to Sanur. 

In Sanur we had an hour waiting time. I went to the toilet, which was a standard one (for me) with bucket flush and zero toilet paper. Afterwards Iben asked me “how’s the toilet?”. I replied “it’s all right”, even though I knew she wouldn’t consider it as all right.. But I thought she might as well get use to it! To begin with she didn’t mention the standard to me, but when I asked, she ironically said, that she liked my standards. 

After our waiting time we grabbed our bags and carried them to the beach where the boat was waiting for us. At this time we had to sign some papers before “boarding”, and we couldn’t help asking ourselves why they didn’t make us do this in the waiting time we had... But we already knew the answer... Coz’ they need to occupy as many people as possible! I find their way of thinking fascinating and really dumb. I mean it’s awesome that they can work like that, imagine how long a working day will feel like if you only work 1 hour out of the 8 you’re away from home. The rest of the hours you sleep in the shadow of a tree, chat to friends, play chess or just simply hang around with your mobile in your hand. And yet they are really happy people, even though they only earn a tiny amount of money each day. Money really doesn’t make you happier, I think the less you own the happier you are.

Anyway the boat trip to Nusa Lembongan went smooth. On the island a few touts offered us accommodation and we agreed to have a look on one of the places, but we quickly regretted it because the guy kept following us. First we went to the Dive Concepts dive shop and signed Iben up for her open water certificate, meanwhile the guy was waiting for us to see his rooms. We left our big backpack at the shop to have a look around on the options we had. After we had seen his rooms we continued on to Jungutbatur beach... With this guy right in our heals. We tried to get rid of him, but nothing worked... He could sense that we were getting annoyed by him, so he kept a longer and longer distance. 

Eventually we found a great hotel called Ketut Losmen Resort. It was fronting the lovely beach with a infinity pool, sunbeds and a view over Mount. Agung on Bali... It was a real paradise and we bargained it to 200.000 rupiah (100kr) per night. The rest of the day we spend in the pool area with cold Bintang’s and a beautiful sunset. We chatted to some of all the other Danes from the hotel. Never on our trip, have we met some many Danes gathered together in the same place. 

This lady tried to teach her dog to be comfortable on a board, as she wanted to take in on a tour on her paddle board.