Bali

            After two days of flying, I arrived in Bali, well rested, but without bags. My bags, however were the least of my worries, I was just glad to not have to get onto another damn plane. I went over to the counter and filled in the necessary paperwork to have the missing bags delivered to the hotel, and quickly left the messy arrivals lounge, and walked towards the exit. It was a very chaotic airport, as you walk towards the exit, you are hounded by different little exchange booths, all claiming to have the best rates, but all obviously waiting to rip you off. I quickly walked outside, spotting Leon almost immediately; we greeted each other quickly and headed to the hotel.

            We love to complain about the traffic in Nassau, but it is nowhere near that of Bali’s, although I suppose if it doesn’t move its not really traffic, its more a parking lot. After about 35 minutes we arrived to the hotel we would be staying in until flying out to meet the boat. It is a nice enough hotel, big beds, air conditioned, full bathroom, and full bar. Quickly after getting to the hotel, we hopped in a Taxi, went to the beach and had an amazing meal at a little beach shack no bigger than a food cart on the streets in New York. I had tuna steak, veggies, and rice, all very good, but the setting was what made the meal, watching the surf crushing the shoreline of Bali was amazing.

                    (Potato Head Restaurant)

            After dinner, we headed to a surf shop so I could buy some clothes to hold me over until my suitcases came in the next day, I went in quickly grabbed random handfuls of stuff, tried on one pair of shorts and immediately checked out. We got back to the hotel, had a very relaxed night and went to bed fairly early. Wednesday was filled with zipping around Bali on little rental scooters, picking up various items we needed for the boat, seemed easy enough. The streets of Bali are more chaotic than the airport, people weaving in and out of traffic, and coming within inches of you.

            (Walls Made Entirely Of Shutters)                                 (Walls Made Entirely Of Shutters)


        It was all fairly standard driving, defending yourself from being killed by some other lunatic, but then we realized I needed gas. As we drove along, Leon pulled off to the side, and told me gas was on the other side of the street, I looked and decided he was out of his mind, as all I saw as a little shop with a man working at it, and a shelf full of booze bottles. This shop with booze was in fact the gas station, and when I pulled up, the man started pouring gas from the glass bottle through a funnel, and into my scooter, definitely against western safety regulations. Not much more to report for now, more to come this week, keep an eye out.

      (Balinese Petrol Station)                                                                        (Balinese Petrol Station)