Location: Kuta, Bali, Indonesia.
In Bali, everyone is a taxi driver. I actually am beginning to suspect that people here are themselves taxis, because I cannot go anywhere without being asked if I need transport. Or sunglasses. Or a surfboard. Or some shit. Or some other shit. It’s fucking (expletive absolutely necessary) annoying.
Anyway, I withdrew 600,000 Rupiah at the airport when I arrived, which is about $70 US dollars. It’s the maximum amount you can withdraw, incidentally. I found a place to stay, paid for 3 nights at $8 per night for a single room, bought a 2 liter soda and a 2 liter bottle of water for $1.20, and then went and had an early dinner for $4. I think I’ll be under budget here. This is good, because I was over budget in Australia by about 35%.
Speaking of Australia. Since my last post, I decided to stay another week in Western Australia, and took a 7-day tour north to Exmouth and back, about 3500km round-trip. I ended up meeting quite a few nice people on the trip, the scenery and wildlife were great, the guide was great, and the price was right (if still over my silly budget). I made friends with a nice America West pilot from Phoenix, and several Japanese girls, who were from Japan. I exchanged email addresses with most of the people on the trip, but I doubt I will have much contact with them outside of a courtesy email with a link to my photos once I get those posted.
Back in Perth, I took things easy, and found out that my planned Japanese Language course in Sapporo fell through. There weren’t any other students at my level, so they couldn’t warrant holding the course. So, I guess I have a whole 6 weeks in Japan, which is really exciting in a way, since I have a few contacts there. I’m saving my money now.
The next two weeks are in Bali. I hope to get to Ubud in a few days, which is a smaller inland city, heavy on the culture and arts, hopefully light on the annoyances. I also want to go to this clifftop temple at sunset, which would require a tour, that I might end up doing tomorrow or Saturday. Plenty of things to see and do, and plenty of time to acclimate to a non-western (although westernized) country.
