Nov/070
Bali – Day 1
As most of you know, Talia and I just came back from our Bali honeymoon. We were even featured in the Sunshine Coast Daily as having a ‘romantic bali honeymoon’.
While we were there, Talia and I both wrote in a diary about each day. I’m going to post a new days entry each day, so here’s the first, for your enjoyment.
P.S. More photo’s can be seen on Facebook, here and here.
P.P.S. Read of our adventures on the jump (click the more… link)
08.10.07 – Luke
After a rekaxing night in Sydney, and a long 6 hour flight , we finally landed at the airport in Bali.
First impressions: Hot, humid and sticky.
As we picked up our bags (after a very nervous wait), about 5 bag porters simultaneously rushed to help us. Having been warned about the $5 charge that they don’t mention till the bags have been carried, I quickly dispersed them with a ‘tidak, terama kasih’.
That means ‘no, thankyou, and it feels really good. What is really means is ‘I’ve been here before – I know your game’.
Outside the airport we were surrounded by 1000 people with signs. We quickly spotted the Carbis and Rodgers sign, and met Dana. We packed our bags into his car, and left for our hotel.
When we arrived it was about 4pm. We exchanged some AUD for some RP (rupea) at the hotel ($1 AUD to RP8000 approx, depending where you get your money changed). Then we went for a walk to soak up the atmosphere and to get our culture shock.
Crossing the road was a nightmare, but we got used to it. We bought a few things, including a native Bali fruit which was the most disgusting fruit I’ve ever tasted.
Then we went to a restaurant recommended by one of the hotel staff. His brother picked us up, and drove us out there. It was beautiful. The tables were all out on the sand, and there was a 3 piece band going from table to table doing romantic covers.
Ordering our food was a new experience. We orderred it live. I picked out a crab, Talia chose a fish, and we got some prawns. They cooked it all up for us, and delivered it very quickly, along with some cocktails, to our table in the sand.
A lovely evening.
08.10.07 – Talia
My first impressions of Bali are HOT, HOT, HOT!!! As I was walking through the airport I gradually either rolled my clothes up or took them off. A big change from chilli Sydney.
A man had our names on a sheet of paper to meet us out front, but not before we paid taxes. So nice of noone to tell us that. They accepted any currency, so it was okay though. Just not in the budget.
The driving reminded me tremendously of Tunisia. Rough, crazy, and no real road rules. It was interesting how familiar it was and the whole place does remind me of Tunisia a lot.
Our hotel is nice enough. These places are never as nice as the pictures. And we were welcomed with, “Our power is out at the moment, but we expect it to be on again in a few hours”!!!
We’re still sifting rice out of our bags and we found someone in our room cleaning it all up after we came home from a walk. I hve a feeling that we’re not in the touristy part of Bali because I can’t see yet why people come back so much. My 1st impression of the $$ is that I’ll take some getting use to, but is easy enough to manage. We bought a calculator, so that’s making it easier!
Bought a camera as well. Big things like this are only marginally cheaper then Duty Free, but we basically got a 2Gig memory stick free and paid full Duty Free price for the camera.
Food is a lot cheaper though. A large BINTANG at our hotel is like 12,000 RP, about $1.50. Exchange rate is $1 : 8000RP approc.
Dinner was a hoot. Pick your own seafood, eat it like a huge feast on the beach and have people play for you. A bit more then we thought, and so we had to pay extra when we got back to the hotel, but everyone is realy easy going, so that’s cool.
The night was STINKING hot and we didn’t see the air conditioner till the morning, so I spent the night naked with the door open – a wet hand tell lying over my body to try and cool me down. We put it down to a Bali adventure, and no hard feeling Bali.
xox
P.S – Everyone wants to give you free transport / transfers so that’s cool.