Surf’s Up

Kuta, Legion Beach, Bali. So happy to be here – in a different country on the world tour! Joni and I arrived yesterday on the 4-hour flight from Bangkok. On the plane we met Anton, another traveler (from New Zealand) and we decided to all look for a place to stay together. We shared a taxi from the airport to Kuta, which is a backpacker/resort beach town not far from the airport. Lucky for us, as we were having lunch by the beach, a Hindu festival started up nearby. Apparently it was some type of annual celebration involving members of 14 different temples in the Kuta area. It was a beautiful festival right on the beach, with live music and dance by women, men, and children all in different traditional costumes. The only reason I was able to find out anything about it was because I was talking to one of the cops guarding the area who happen to have lived in Denver for over 10 years!

Anyway we finally got around to looking for a place to stay around 6pm, and Joni found a great place in Legion with aircon and a pool! Last night we went to Joni’s Bar (believe it or not), right across the street, and had the BEST Mexican food! I was THRILLED – a veggie burrito!

Today we hung out here; I went shopping after going for a walk on the beach, and then relaxed by the pool. It’s much different from Thailand here – the waves are BIG and the water is FULL of surfers. We are in the southern hemisphere here too but we haven’t seen the southern cross yet (only looked early last night). The island of Bali is just one of over 13,000 islands in Indonesia – the world’s largest archipelago.

Tomorrow the 3 of us plan to head to the north side of the island for a few days just to get a feel for the place. Yeah, I’m really excited to be here!

Welcome to Bali! (note: do not try this at home)

Hindu festival at Kuta Beach

…ditto

Add comment May 15th, 2002