Now the trip gets really off the cuff! Nothing is booked until a return flight to South Korea on May 8th (From Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). We landed here in Bali, Indonesia on April 6th with over a month to wing it – and what a wonderful place to take it easy. This is our second time in Bali, but this time we decided to explore around more. Just one slight problem: Indonesia only issues 30 day visas on arrival, which I realized with some quick math while standing in the immigration line that we won’t be able to stay here until May 8th.
After a month in Australia and New Zealand, it was nice on our budget to be in Indonesia. This beautiful hotel pictured above was only $20 a night! This was after a cab ride (maybe 10 miles) to the airport in Perth, Australia cost us $50.
We made our way to Warung Coco (our hotel) which is a little misleading since ‘Warung’ means food stall in Indonesian. That pool area was just down an alley from our room which wasn’t very nice at all.
Here’s what a real ‘Warung’ looks like
A little Indonesian primer: It’s a massive archipelago (over 17,000 islands) and is the 4th most populated country in the world. It’s predominantly Muslim (more Muslims live in Indonesia than any other country) but Bali has it’s own Hindu inspired religion. There are shrines, temples and offerings everywhere you look on every street and alley.
We dropped our bags and made our way over to Kuta Beach. People either love it or hate it. It’s a very pretty beach with great waves to play in or learn to surf, but there are tons of hawkers who try to sell you everything under the sun (bootleg goods, massages, sunglasses, sarongs, blow guns – you name it, they sell it). Along the way, there are stores and shops selling everything you can imagine as well.
You can see the weather wasn’t very nice, but this didn’t keep the crowds away from enjoying the obscured sunset on the sand. Also, surfing is hard work and it’s rather nice to do it without the sun beating down directly on you!
A couple of our friends from Korea were also here in Bali, so we planned to meet them for dinner and drinks. Dinner was at TJ’s Mexican Restaurant (we’re pretty good about eating local food and we love Balinese cuisine but this restaurant is delicious too!)
Just next to this nightclub, there is a somber reminder of terrorist attacks that occurred in 2002. A coordinated double bombing killed over 200 people and devastated the community here. Since Bali is an outlier in the predominantly Muslim Indonesia, it’s partying lifestyle became a target for extremists with deadly results. There is now a memorial with all the victims’ names.
